Souls That Need Each Other
by AClassyLady
Summary: Based on the movie. A troubled little girl is brought to the Netherworld, to someone who may need her as much as she needs them, though neither of them may truly realize it. Main genre's: Drama, Family
1. What's Your Name?

Souls That Need Each Other  
  
Chapter One: What's Your Name?  
  
By: Kichara  
  
***  
  
Disclaimer: Beetlejuice ain't mine, he belongs to one of my own personal gods, Tim Burton. Also, this fic has lotsa angsty stuff in the beginning that will come in from time to time, should be handled carefully, not read while operating heavy machinery, having sex, starting a mongoose-dog farm, or getting your hand dipped in wax at the fair. It should also not be read by men, women, children, senior citizens, corn nuts, epileptic people, Hot Topic stickers, lawn gnomes and several species of squirrels. You've been warned!!! *is hit by a herring* *Looks up.* Man, my serious titles always sound SO corny. *eats herring*  
  
***  
  
"You stupid brat! Get the hell out of here!" She ducked just in time to avoid the plate that came spinning at her head, closing her eyes tightly and whimpering in fright as she heard it shatter, shards of glass raining down on her tiny shoulders. "You little bitch!" He lifted her up by her long mess of blonde hair, causing the child to scream in pain and fear, kicking away instinctively from him.  
  
A sharp jolt of pain against the side of her face made her gasp and open her eyes in surprise, widening as she took in his too-perfect face, twisted in fury. 'He smells bad again.' She realized suddenly, her tiny snub of a nose wrinkling up in distaste. He tossed her to the floor, thundering, "Go to your room!"  
  
She did so as fast as she could, retreating from the harsh noise. Upon reaching her destination, she quickly closed the door, tiny fingers twisting the lock and then climbed up onto the bed, wrapping thin arms around her knobby knees and rocking back and forth, humming to herself. 'I don't like it when he smells bad. And Mother too, but she has a different kind of bad smell.' Her mother was as beautiful and perfect as her father. The little girl could see her now, her long blonde hair falling gracefully to her shoulders, bouncing slightly as she'd walk out of her room, traces of smoke trailing from the open door in her wake. The girl heard her father shout, smashing the walls of the hallway. She curled up tighter, eyes widening as she realized he was coming towards her room.  
  
The door slammed open, his figure a daunting shadow in the frame. The child on the bed crouched, frozen in fear as he half-stumbled to her, his words sounding strange as he spoke, "You lil' brat, you can't do anything right, can you?" She squeaked in response, not knowing what he was talking about. "I want to go out with your mum, but she sez we can't, cuz we got you." He loomed closer and she shrank, waiting in fear for. The impact sent her flying off the bed, smashing into the wall. Her father came towards her crumbled figure and she saw his hand raise again, the other fist clutching a dark bottle, and she suddenly sprang to her feet, ducking the blow by instinct, and bolted out the door. She ran down the hall, out into the living room and then ran out the door, going faster as she heard him yelling behind her. 'Run, run, get away. I'm scared!' Her own frantic words sounded in her throbbing head as she grabbed a hold of the front door knob, fumbling in her fear for a moment before she managed to get it open and run outside into the night.  
  
Her feet, clothed only in a pair of socks, hit the sidewalk and she ran across it, across the empty dark street, and ran through the neighbor's yard, past the yard, into another and another, finally collapsing on a strange lawn that she didn't know, clutching her throbbing chest and gasping for air through sobs that wracked her body. The little girl lay there for a long time before she was finally able to stop crying and sit up. 'I don't know where I am, but it's better than being 'there'.' She mused to herself, standing up and starting off into another run. She knew she was moving further and further into a place she didn't know, all the houses around her unfamiliar, but all it meant to her was that she was getting father and farther from 'there'. After a long time, she finally fell, exhausted, in the tall grass of an empty lot, comforted somewhat by the soft grass and the little tickling as insects skittered across her skin. 'I don't wanna be there, don't wanna be there, don't wanna.' Her thoughts broke off as she slipped into a deep slumber.  
  
The silent words and the strong will that spoke them did not go unheard.  
  
Large black eyes opened, settling on the sleeping girl and a thin pair of lips sighed painfully, then pursed in thoughtfulness before dematerializing. It was a spirit, a wandering soul that liked to spend her time drifting among the living, finding fulfillment in helping when she could. And she wanted to help now. Unseen hands drifted to an invisible chest, clenching together in thought. 'I need to send her somewhere, to someone that needs her as much as she needs them. Things can be worked out from there.' She reached out, searching for such a soul, unknowing of names as she searched, who they were or where they were, only needing to find that particular soul that. "There." She realized aloud, the word only the faintest whisper carried by the wind, as her mind caught onto the soul she was looking for.  
  
The spirit drifted closer, her hands materializing as she reached for the little girl, whose pale face was highlighted by the faint shimmer of the sun that was beginning to light the sky. Long, slender fingers touched her cheeks; the face becoming more highlighted as a glow surrounded the spirit, her lips murmuring words of a spell. Incredibly strong powers that were usually dormant were brought forward now, filling the air around the two. The little girl began to fade, her body disappearing until all that was left to say she had been there was some bent grass that was slightly warmed from her body heat.  
  
The spirit faded again, her energy spent, and she drifted off, exhausted. She quickly found a place to rest the attic of a family that had gone on vacation and immediately curled up in an old trunk, smiling to herself as she melded into dreams. 'May you find happiness, child.' She thought, and almost instantly fell asleep.  
  
***  
  
The loud shrill of the alarm woke the room's slumbering figure, who groaned in protest, reaching out to grab a hold of the clock and pitch it across the room. It made a funny crunching noise as it made close contact with the wall, it's noise finally stopping. The figure yawned loudly, stretched languidly and sat up in the coffin-bed. He fisted his eyes as he got up and trudged sleepily across the bedroom floor and into the bathroom, where he splashed cold water on his face. More awake now, he grinned at his reflection for a moment, heading out of the room and through the house, intent on going to get the paper as he opened the front door.  
  
However, the plans were cut short at the sight of a tiny creature on his front lawn. His eyes widened immensely in surprise and he moved close, realizing it was a little girl, about five or six years old. Her body was curled in on itself, and there were long tangles of blonde hair spread across her face and trailing over her hand, a tiny fist clutching a few blades of brown grass. Her snub of a nose wrinkled as she began to wake up, then her eyes opened and she blinked. She sat up quickly, looking around her and then up at him, taking him in with thoughtful emerald-green orbs.  
  
He was tall, and lanky, with an exceptionally pale face that was blotched with darkness, his eyes ringed in black. Wild, green-yellow hair stood up on it's own from his head and one of the eyebrows that were the same color were raised in confusion as he bent over slightly to look her in the eye. He was dressed in a pair of black pajamas that were littered with an army of white spiders.  
  
The girl sat up more, tilting her head in curiosity. Her voice was quiet, but surprisingly strong as she spoke up. "Where am I?"  
  
Something was really different about this kid. Something really. He bent closer, giving her a poke and a long sniff. His black eyes widened suddenly in astonishment and he proclaimed, in a naturally gruff voice, that: "You're living!"  
  
"Huh?" She rose up on her knees, returning the favor of sniffing him too before continuing. "What's that supposed to mean? And where am I?" She looked around in curiosity.  
  
This bit of info made things all the more intriguing, and he was silently wondering about her mannerisms and why the hell she didn't seem scared at the sight of him, or their odd surroundings. "How did you get 'here'?"  
  
"I don't know, really. I know I wasn't here last night." She placed a tiny finger on the side of her face, pursing her lips thoughtfully.  
  
"Hey, how'd you get that?" He asked suddenly, pointing to a large bruise coloring her pale cheek.  
  
Her hand flew up to her face, covering the ugly mar, and she wordlessly gazed at him, lips parted. "What?" His eyes somewhat narrowed, confused as she merely stared up at him in wonder.  
  
"Nobody's ever asked me." Her voice grew quieter and he blinked, then decided against asking further.  
  
"Look, you wanna come inside?"  
  
"Really? Okay!" She said, brightening at once and standing up.  
  
He straightened, leading her inside the crooked house, which almost looked as if it was going to cave in on itself. "I gotta figure out how you got here and how to get you back to where you belong. wherever that it." He added, his voice a bit rougher than usual after a moment's thought.  
  
"But. I don't wanna go back there." She stopped at the door, closing it behind her.  
  
"There?" He raised an eyebrow.  
  
"There. It's bad there." She said simply, her green eyes lowering to the black and purple tiled floor.  
  
"You're not being very helpful, kid." He put his hands on his hips, somewhat exasperated (which probably had to do with the fact that it was awfully early in the morning to try to be sorting out this sort of thing.)  
  
"Nora, my name's Nora." She said, her eyes meeting his again, almost defiantly.  
  
"Nora?" He asked distastefully, although somewhat shocked by the stubbornness of her tone at the same time.  
  
"I don't like it either." The child agreed, somewhat shyly. "It sounds stupid." She stuck out her lower lip in a pout, which he smirked at in amusement. The girl watched as he flopped onto the couch, which groaned loudly in protest. She walked over, climbing up next to him and, gazing up intently, asked. "What's your name?"  
  
"Just call me BJ." He smirked again and she titled her head to the side, seeming to be thoughtfully quiet for a long moment before finally answering.  
  
"Okay."  
  
Again, he was somewhat amused, and he reached over to pull out a decaying phonebook from the table drawer next to him, flipping through the pages thoughtfully as he tried to figure out who he should call.  
  
Nora was quiet for a long time before speaking up again in her strong little voice that seemed too old for her age with the abrupt question: "Will you give me a name?"  
  
"What?" Her face inched closer to his so that she look him better in the eye, her tiny hands resting on his leg to keep her balance.  
  
"You and me both don't like my name, so give me a new one." She explained, almost commanding, a bit of laughter in her eyes.  
  
Closing the phonebook and tossing it onto the table, he placed his elbow on the armrest, tilting his face against his fist thoughtfully. There was a very pregnant pause while the two kept their positions, her eyes fixed on his own before he finally answered. "Nicky, how's that?"  
  
She was still for all of three seconds, then she grinned widely, suddenly throwing her tiny arms around his neck. "I love it!"  
  
His eyes were wide as he watched her pull back. "You're just full of surprises, aren't cha?" Nicky shrugged, still smiling. A yawn broke the grin however, and she shook her head to try to clear it. "Um, can I go back to sleep for a little bit? I'm still kinda tired."  
  
"Alright, fine. Go ahead." She curled up against the opposite arm rest, eyes closing and almost instantly falling back asleep.  
  
The kid had to one of the weirdest people he's ever met. She was still living, yet seemed totally unafraid of the strange and abnormal Netherworld, and trusted him completely from the moment she'd seen him, which was something that NEVER happened, with anyone. She was strong-willed and thoughtful, seeming to be a lot more than just a little girl and every word and expression was completely unexpected, keeping him on his toes. He glanced at the phonebook, then picked it up and replaced it in the drawer. Calling up and trying to figure out the situation he had at the moment could wait.  
  
Nicky rolled over in her sleep, one arm draping down the side of the couch and she smiled in her sleep. Raising his eyebrows thoughtfully, he stood up quietly, heading to the kitchen to make some coffee. 'This could prove to be pretty interesting and worthwhile.' The silent words made Beetlejuice smirk a little, almost a real smile.  
  
***  
  
Man, I am TOO full of weird stuff, comes from having my head infested with funny little mole things that smell like Munster cheese. *A la Homer Simpson* Mmmm, cheeeeeeese... *drools* Well, uh, to get back on the subject, I've just been in a very big Tim Burton mood lately, probably due to the fact that I'm feeling even more creepy than usual, it being so close to Halloween and all. This is me taking a break from Romance to write something sweet for me; It doesn't really matter all that much what everyone else thinks. In fact, I get a little embarrassed when I think about what everyone else might think. I'm often sparked by the strangest things; I just never go through with them, due to the fact that they are quite strange. This story is a prime example of one of my strange ideas that I actually am going through with. So as you review this, just think that, it could be worse, I could be writing lemon crossovers between The Carebears and The Gummi Bears. *snickers* Yeah, there would be the loving, sweet side of the relationship and then the other side would all horny, bouncing here and there and everywheeeereeeee..  
  
Valid note: This is all being written at 1:02 in the morning, mostly due to the fact that I needed a writing break after writing a comp. Dun worry tho, I have intentions of going on with this, granted that it's not butchered by mean review people.  
  
P.S.: Nothing. 


	2. Getting to Know You

Souls That Need Each Other By: Kichara Chapter Two: Getting to Know You  
  
Qwik note here: I noticed that a Beetlejuice section was put up in the Cartoons, so I put this there, although it's more based off of the movie (which will be more obvious later on, as I plan on bringing in Barbara, Adam and eventually Lydia into the picture). ^^ And don't worry, it can only get better from here on. ^^ ***  
  
Beetlejuice sat at the kitchen table, reading over the paper and drinking his black coffee, so intent on doing both that he didn't notice when someone slipped into the room.  
  
"Hi!" A little voice peeped behind him, causing him to yelp in surprise, nearly falling out of the chair. He swiveled around to see Nicky standing behind, giggling. "I finished sleeping." She stated simply, clambering up onto the rickety chair next to him. "What's that?" She reached out, tiny fingers resting on the rim of his coffee mug and tapping it.  
  
"Coffee, you want some?"  
  
"Okay!" She cried in exuberance, always ready to attempt something new. With the fastidious precision that only a child has, she carefully pulled the cup towards her, not lifting it from the table. She sniffed it, examined the contents of the mug and thoughtfully nibbled on her lips. Finally she lifted it up, took a sip, then another, where she downed half the cup. Carefully setting it back on the table, she meticulously slid it back to her companion, wide eyes never cutting off eye contact with his. He looked down at the mug's lack of content, eyebrows raised, then over at her. "Hey, you're not really some thirty-year old trapped in a kid's body, are ya?"  
  
"Huh?" Bright green eyes blinked in perplexity.  
  
"Never mind." He finished off the rest of the coffee, tossed the paper into the kitchen corner, the wad neatly falling on the top of the mountain of papers that had been built there from the same act.  
  
She climbed off her chair, bouncing from one foot to the other. "Can I look around?"  
  
"Yeah, fine. I gotta go get dressed; just stay in the house, alright?"  
  
"Okay!" She said, sprinting past him into the garage, squeals of joy spread in her wake.  
  
***  
  
Half an hour later, once he'd finished getting dressed, Beetlejuice found Nicky still in the garage. She had obviously been looking thorough the mounds of junk that had been piled up in the room and was now sprawled out on the floor, having a merry conversation with an ugly little voodoo doll. She heard the ghost come up from behind her and she turned, sitting up and looking at him. "Does she have a name?" The little girl held up the disfigured doll.  
  
"Uh, not really."  
  
"Okay, then I'm naming her Sally." Nicky proclaimed, then got to her feet, looking him over. He'd changed into a black and white striped suit with a pair of black boots. "I like your clothes." She said, almost wistfully as she tapped her toe, which was peeking out of a hole in her sock, against the garage floor.  
  
Beetlejuice looked her over thoughtfully. She was dressed simply, in a dirty, over-sized white T-shirt that draped past her elbows and a pair of blue shorts that fell past her knees, with only a pair of holey, grass- stained and mud-splattered socks on her feet. "Well, we could go get you some clothes later, but for now, I've got something around here." He began digging through the mountains of clutter, pitching them everywhere and making new piles. Nicky carefully moved out of the way of the flying debris, watching the snow of junk with wide, thoughtful eyes. Finally an oversized suitcase landed at her feet, and he walked over, opening it up. "Here ya go." He said, dumping out the contents into a big mound of cloth. The girl carefully put down Sally, then excitedly pawed through the cloth, which was actually a variety of clothes that were her basic size. "Oo, lookit this! And this is neat too!" She babbled to herself, holding up one article of clothing after another and tossing them into a new pile at a rapid, overly-energetic speed. Once she'd gone through the clothes, her gaze floated up to meet Beetlejuice's with a look that was definitely shy. "Um, BJ, can I have a second so I can get dressed?"  
  
Beetlejuice, who'd been watching the enthusiastic proceedings with an entertained half-smile, blinked as if coming out of a dream, "Huh? Yeah, okay. I'll, uh, be in the other room." He backed up, retreating into the kitchen, closing the door behind him. Leaning leisurely against the counter, the ghost amused himself by picking at his broken nails for a couple of minutes until Nicky reentered the room. She was wearing a pair of black pants with a simple button-up black shirt that was a bit big for her size; the ends of it fell just above her knees, and she'd rolled up to sleeves to her wrists so that the sleeves didn't drape over her hands. She grinned, striking a pose, "How do I look?" She tapped a white-shoed foot for extra drama, spinning around in a circle. The other was in a gray sneaker, the only left shoe she'd been able to find out of about 10 pieces of right footgear.  
  
"Lookin' good." BJ smirked a little. "You wanna go get some other clothes now?"  
  
"Okay!" That whole 'boundless energy' was going to take some getting used to, although he had to admit it was.cute. Or something like that. One of her hands was preoccupied, still holding the voodoo doll, and her other reached up to take his somewhat dirty hand, seemingly not bothered at all by the dirt caked underneath the chipped black fingernails. Maybe it was because her own had just as much dirt under them. "Let's go!"  
  
***  
  
Beetlejuice's run-down house was on the far outskirts of the city, so it was quite a walk. Actually, he would have flown, but Nicky was too spellbound by their surroundings for him to even want to make the suggestion, too amused by her enthusiasm. Still keeping a firm grip on his hand (which was a surprise in itself), she let him lead the way, but asked constant questions all the way there about what everything was, and why it was there, and what it did, and what did he think about it, and so on and so forth. Once they reached the broken sidewalks of the city, however, the little girl fell silent, only turning her head in every direction to take in all the people, what they were doing, the crooked buildings, what was in them, and everything in between with inquisitive green eyes.  
  
She was so excited, she was having trouble keeping still. This place was so.cool! "Where're we going?" She averted her eyes from a man that was buying new feathers for the arrows sticking out of his chest to her companion.  
  
"Right here." His gruff voice announced, stopping and turning her into a huge purple store with the name "Melinda's" hung above the door in big, elegant letters. The inside of the store was dark, lit only by lanterns on the walls and several candles on the register counter. "Hey, anyone here?" He was unsure as to what he should do; shopping wasn't exactly something he had scheduled often into his agenda.  
  
His problems were solved, however, when a tiny little woman suddenly appeared next to them, a cigarette trailing smoke from her heavy-jeweled hand. "Welcome to Melinda's!" She rasped in a deep, smoker's voice, ruby red lips lifted in a smile. "I'm Melinda, how can I help you two?"  
  
Beetlejuice let go of Nicky's hand, giving her a little shove. "She needs clothes. Help her out." He explained briefly. Nicky nodded in agreement.  
  
"Well, let's get you set up, then. Come with me, hon. You can stay up here, if you'd like." Melinda said over her shoulder as she ushered the little girl towards the back of the store.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, that's fine." He made himself at home in one of the chairs by the counter, watching the two of them disappear into the back.  
  
"So, what would you like, dear?" Melinda asked, floating up and twirling around Nicky.  
  
"Um, clothes?" She countered, somewhat unsure.  
  
The ghost laughed, running a well-manicured hand through her mane of red hair. "Alright, that's a start. Let's go on with what your favorite colors are, okay?"  
  
"Oh, I love black and purple." Nicky said, spinning around in place to keep her eyes on the saleswoman as she absent-mindedly drifted around the room.  
  
The ghost smiled, landing by a rack and pulling off several items, then walked over and handed them to the child. "Here, go try these on and let's see how they look."  
  
***  
  
-An Hour and 15 minutes later- Beetlejuice rolled over on his side, kicking his legs that were hanging off the armrest, bored. He cut off his elaborate yawn when he heard footsteps and looked up to see Nicky and Melinda returning, the former looking triumphant, arms full with clothes and a pair of black boots, while the latter looked a bit haggard.  
  
"Hi, BJ!" Nicky exclaimed, grinning at him widely, bouncing along despite her load.  
  
"I've never seen a child with such a select mind in clothes!" Melinda gasped, staring down at the chipper girl with wide eyes.  
  
"I had to pick out stuff I like." Nicky said, as if that were the most obvious thing in the world. She looked over at BJ, giving him a small, private smile. "I'm stubborn." She mouthed, eyes twinkling in merriment.  
  
The female ghost stopped, looking down at the little girl in amazement, then chuckled as she drifted over to the cash register, taking the items from Nicky to ring them up.  
  
She and Beetlejuice walked out, each holding a bag (one of which had Sally neatly nestled in it), with Nicky holding his hand. "How the hell did you manage to get all that stuff for only $34 dollars?" He asked, incredulously, lifting up the heavy bag he was holding to help prove his point.  
  
"Cause I looked through everything. The problem with people is that they don't take the time to really look through everything. If they did, their lives would prolly be lot easier." She smiled at up his incredulous face. "See?"  
  
"Yeah, I think so." He blinked. "How old are you, kid?"  
  
"Six."  
  
"You're sure?"  
  
"Uh-huuuhhh.How old are you?" She tilted her head to the side, reminding him somewhat of a curious puppy in the action.  
  
"Six hundred and thirty eight years."  
  
Her eyes grew wide. "Woooooow, really?" A loud rumbling coming from Nicky's stomach cut off his response. "Whoops, guess I'm hungry." She said, a bit sheepish as she looked down at her complaining tummy.  
  
The ghost's stomach obviously decided that it needed to be heard too, as an even louder grumbling came from his. She giggled. "Guess we both are. Let's get some food. It's about dinner time, anyway." He suggested, turning into a small restaurant called The Bird House that they'd just passed.  
  
They seated themselves at a table, taking up the menus and looking them over. Nicky murmured to herself as she did so, her brow furrowed in concentration. Beetlejuice noticed this and remembered that six-year-old usually couldn't read. "You need help?"  
  
She looked up at him, laying the menu down on the tabletop, shaking her head. "No, I can do it. I taught myself how to read." She proclaimed proudly, grinning at him. She looked down at the menu. "It's just a little hard, that's all." A waiter walked up to the table then, a squat little man with tire marks imprinted on his torso.  
  
"Can I take your order?"  
  
"The special." Beetlejuice said, looking over at Nicky.  
  
"Same thing." She announced, looking over the menu and then watched thoughtfully as the man walk-limped off. She picked up the menus, carefully putting them back behind the salt and pepper shakers, humming to herself.  
  
"How the hell do you do this?" His gruff tone wasn't sarcastic and didn't hold any contempt, only amazement as he asked the question.  
  
"Huh?" She looked up into her older companion's eyes, her own blinking quizzically.  
  
"C'mon, you're still alive, and you aren't getting freaked out at all, being in the Netherworld." He paused thoughtfully, then grunted to her, eyes thoughtfully searching her face, "S'matter of fact, you're enjoying it, aren't ya?"  
  
"Is that bad?"  
  
"What do you think?" There wasn't any sarcasm to the question, just solid thoughtfulness.  
  
Nicky shrugged, tossing her ragged hair over her shoulder. "No, not really. Everything's too cool here, why shouldn't I like it? The 'Netherworld'.right? It's full of stuff I've never seen before, never done, never tried." She nibbled on her lip, obviously thinking over the present situation carefully. "Maybe. It's cuz I'm, uh, alive, so I take stuff in differently than someone here would."  
  
"Maybe. You're also a kid, and kids are usually a hell of a lot more ready to accept stuff than older people."  
  
She smiled brilliantly. "Okay, that sounds good enough!"  
  
"Not everything, but it's a start." He sat back in his chair, studying her open face and bright eyes. The waiter came back with their food, pigeon and vulture stew, and conversation ceased as Nicky took extreme interest in the soup.  
  
After they'd finished and had walked outside, Beetlejuice shifted the shopping bag he was holding and looked down expectantly at the girl who had his hand. "So we bought some clothes and ate some birds; You ready to go back?"  
  
She smiled a little sluggishly, then yawned. "Yeah, which way do we go?"  
  
"Hey, if you're tired, I could fly us home."  
  
She perked up, eyebrows raising in surprise. "Really? You can do that?!"  
  
"That's what I said, right?" He neatly scooped her up, standing up straight again.  
  
She carefully placed the bag she was holding on her lap, holding it there with her hands. He lifted up into the air easily, rising up above the buildings and then started moving at a moderate speed toward the house's direction. Nicky watched the green sun sink below the horizon that she was facing with half-lidded eyes and snuggled against the ghost's chest, content.  
  
She was somewhat disappointed when they touched ground in the front lawn a few minutes later, but forgot about it when a realization came to mind. "Ummm, BJ. Can I take a bath? I feel kinda.icky." She said, for lack of a better word, shaking her hand back and forth as if it helped illustrate her point.  
  
"Yeah, that's fine." He remarked as they walked inside and dumped the bags on the floor, and he pointed her in the direction of the bathroom.  
  
With a quick thanks, she scampered off. Feeling the need to take a break from the day's unfamiliar events, Beetlejuice flopped onto the worn couch, lighting up a cigarette and relaxing into the beaten cushions.  
  
In the bathroom, Nicky had started filling up the tub and was painstakingly unbuttoning her long-sleeved shirt. She let it slide off her thin torso and caught sight of her half-naked body in the mirror with wide eyes. Bruises and cuts covered the pale skin of her chest, back, arms and neck and she grimaced, looking away. Making sure not to let her gaze wander back to the mirror, she instead slipped off her shoes and unbuttoned her pants. She'd been careful that morning in picking out her clothes to make sure they covered herself, a habit that had turned essential. Whenever people saw her body, they asked questions, and mother and father always said she couldn't talk about what happened in the house. The girl shook her head, shaking away the thoughts for the moment as she climbed into the tub, turning off the water and happily slipping into the soothing hot water.  
  
She relaxed into the water, holding her breath for a moment and sliding all the way into the water. She came back up after a moment, shaking her wet head and pushing her dripping bangs back, then began looking for the soap. It was the only bath product she actually COULD find, so after she quickly scrubbed her skin, she lathered it up and cleaned her hair with it. Not exactly shampoo, but oh well. 'Whatever works.' She thought to herself, dunking back into the water to rinse off her hair. She might have stayed in the bath longer, but her insatiable curiosity got the better of her,, and Nicky wanted to go see what BJ was doing. She had just carefully climbed out of the tub when a knock on the door sounded. She stopped in shock, not moving as the door opened after a second.  
  
"Hey, I thought you might need a towel, so I." Beetlejuice stopped, eyes wide as he saw Nicky standing on the bathroom rug, her slender body covered in ugly bruises and lacerations. Her own eyes were wide and the two stood in shock for several seconds before he realized that she was naked and that he was holding a towel for her. He walked over, draping it around her and kneeling down to look into her still-wide eyes. "Nicky?" His voice, usually so bold and full of confidence and was quiet and gentle and sounded a little hurt.  
  
Nicky blinked finally, looking into his eyes. "I." She faltered, not knowing what to say.  
  
"What happened to you?" He almost whispered after she didn't say anything.  
  
"It. It's from 'there'." She blurted out after a long moment of trying to force it out. His eyes widened. 'There.' She'd never say more than that.  
  
"What.?"  
  
Some dam had broken inside of her from saying those words and the child began crying in earnest, tears spilling onto her cheeks. " 'There'. my father, he, he hit me.. and said bad stuff. And mother doesn't care, but I'm not supposed ta tell 'nyone and I dun wanna go back. She suddenly flung herself against him, sobbing so hard her body shook. "Please.I don't want to." The words were choked out between sobs.  
  
He put his arms around her in a gesture that was completely unfamiliar to him, letting her lay her head against his shoulder as he gently rubbed her back. "Hey, hey, it's all right. You ain't going anywhere, I promise." Her tiny hands gripped his shirt and she managed to pull back a little to look into his eyes.  
  
"Promise?" Her voice was tiny and fragile and he blinked rapidly, pushing away his own beginnings of tears, pulling her into a fierce hug.  
  
"Yeah." He said, holding her until her sobs had quieted down and she'd relaxed. The girl looked at him, smiling softly and he smiled back.  
  
"I'm gonna go get dressed now, okay?"  
  
"Alright. There's a spare room at that end a' the hall." He waved in a general direction past the open door and her tired smile didn't fade as she nodded, heading out of the bathroom to go get her clothes, the towel clutched at her neck like a cape. He stood up after a long moment, letting the water out of the tub and was shutting of the bathroom light when she walked past, a little bundle of clothes in her arms, and into the spare room. He headed for his own, feeling exhausted and, though he usually went to bed a LOT later, tired as hell and ready to hit the rack.  
  
He tossed on a pair of PJ's, then headed down to Nicky's room, knocking on the closed door.  
  
"Come in." She answered, sounding a lot better, although the tone was quiet and still held a certain measure of sadness. He did so and found her sitting at the edge of the bed, wearing a pair of purple pajamas.  
  
"Hey, you tired?" He asked, walking over to stand at the foot of the bed. She nodded, a bit sheepish, and yawned as if emphasizing her point.  
  
'Okay, there's something I can do. What the hell was it?' This whole 'acting as a mature parental-type-unit thing' was still something he had no idea how to approach, although he was willing to try it out. The kid sure looked like she could use it. He surmised, looking at her quiet eyes.  
  
"Uh, you want me ta tuck ya in?" He asked, brushing away some cobwebs in his mind and remembering about that sort of thing. She nodded happily and pushed back the covers, sliding underneath them.  
  
He had no idea to do, but instinct drove him to brush back her bangs and take her tiny hand. She snuggled into the pillow, squeezing his hand gently.  
  
"Night." She half-whispered and he let go, stepping over to the doorway and turning off the light.  
  
"I'm right at the other end of the hallway, alright?" She nodded slowly, closing her eyes and he breathed a sigh of relief, heading for his room.  
  
He lay in bed for a long time, unable to sleep despite his weariness. 'What now?' Well, she sure as hell wasn't going back 'there', and she could stay with him. After all, he'd promised. Although he wasn't she what he was actually going to do. Being any sort of parental unit wasn't anything he was used to, but he could deal with that. Or make some attempt to.  
  
At the moment, the ghost was running over everything in his mind and trying to sort it all out. Nicky, her peculiar nature, her past and how he was going to take care of her, when he didn't have any idea as to how he was going to do it.  
  
The tiniest rapping on the door caught his attention and he sat up in surprise, going to open the door and finding the little girl he'd been thinking about standing there, Sally in her arms, looking up at him quietly. "I. can I sleep with you?" The question was quiet, hesitant and he smiled softly, picking her up.  
  
"Sure, no problem." He settled back into the bed and she curled up against him, head nestled against his chest.  
  
"Why's your smile so sad?" She asked suddenly, looking up at him.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Her tiny fingers reached up to touch his mouth. "Sometimes, you've got a real happy smile there, but sometimes, it's sad, even though it doesn't look like it at first. Like just now."  
  
He blinked slowly, thinking. "I guess. I'm just a little sad then."  
  
"You don't seem like it, though." She pointed out, sounding a bit sad herself as she snuggled against him.  
  
"Guess I'm just good at hiding it then."  
  
"That shouldn't be something you're good at." She almost admonished, forehead creasing in a thoughtful frown.  
  
"And you're right, like you always are." He chuckled, brushing back her bangs with his fingertips. "Little child prodigy."  
  
"What's a prodigy?" Her eyes closed, almost of their own accord, as she relaxed to the gentle motion of her hair being pushed back.  
  
"You." She giggled softly, the laugh laden down with drowsiness and Nicky rested her forehead against his chest. Beetlejuice waited for several minutes, waiting for her to say something else, when he registered her even breathing and realized she had to be sleeping.  
  
He settled against the pillows. 'Smile's sad. And I didn't even realize it until Nicky pointed it out.'  
  
It all made a lot more sense now, when he thought about it. What had happened to her 'there' had matured her mind, making her more thoughtful and quiet than a normal kid would be, not to mention more apt to notice things no one else would. But she was still just a kid, and the rest of the time you could see that in her wide curious eyes, hear it in her childish giggle, understand it as she jumped around restlessly, running or skipping from place to place with a child's nature of not being able to stay still long.  
  
Still, Nicky was an exceptional kid. Fearless, and curious beyond all belief, she showed nothing but curiosity instead of fear when she'd woken up in some place that didn't look like anything she'd ever seen before, and had shown nothing but trust in a person she didn't know, only because she 'knew he was alright.', as she'd told him earlier that day. Maybe it was just the instinctive pull that humans have that told her that, although he didn't know why that pull would have told her to trust him. Trust from another person was something he hadn't felt in a long time, but there it was, sleeping securely in his arms, one tiny hand clutching the lapel of his pajama top in a death grip.  
  
Her face was peaceful, the tiniest hint of a smile on her lips, and he found the corners of his mouth lifting up. Once you hit the afterlife, and especially if you'd been there as long as he had been, you started to lose purpose in everything. That horrible gnawing feeling that came with that had haunted him for years now, but now fate had dumped a lost little girl into his lap.  
  
A girl that would unintentionally force him into laughter, who would take his hand and pull him after her to look at something new; a girl who trusted him blindly- enough to tell him her darkest secrets and cry her pain out onto his shirt. And then, come to him at night with the simple request to sleep with him, one hand clutching a doll that most children would have found repulsive, the other reaching out for someone that most people found repulsive. For comfort. Maybe he could find purpose in with life. or whatever his going on meant. It was hard to define when you were dead, he mused, brushing back Nicky's ragged bangs and closing his eyes, content.  
  
*~*~*~*~ Whoo, done with the second chapter! Took me long enough. Not that my lack of reviews was helping much (HINT HINT). ^_^ Tell me whatcha think, that's all I ask! 


	3. With the Morning Comes Laughter

Souls That Need Each Other Chapter 3: With the Morning Comes Laughter By: Kichara  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
POKE. "Psst." POKE. "Psst."  
  
Beetlejuice groaned, one hand reaching up to cover his eyes. 'When the hell had the alarm clock gotten so tricky?' His hand bumped into something, a warm body next to him and he opened his eyes, one squinting. 'Wait a minute." He looked down to see a pair of large emerald eyes, glittering in the morning light.  
  
"You take a long time to wait up." Nicky announced with a grin, poking him again.  
  
He groaned closing his eyes again and grabbing the pillow and dumping it on his head, holding it there securely. She poked him again, this time in the ribs. "Quit it." He groaned, scooting away from her hand.  
  
She sat up, taking this into consideration, and experimentally poked him in the ribs again. He whined and scooted away more. Another poke, more squirming and a groan of protest. Her face lit up in a huge grin and she leaned over, talking directly to the pillow, a sly tone to her voice. "Are you. ticklish?" That was the only warning he got before she glomped him, tickling his sides mercilessly.  
  
The ghost yelped, tossing the pillow across the room and squirmed, trying valiantly to get away from the little girl's merciless fingers as he let out a howl of laughter, which was joined by a burst of giggles from his attacker. It took a second for some semblance of coherency kicked in, and he decided to fight fire with fire, fighting against the urge to curl up into a defensive ball and reached out, fingers finding her tiny torso and tickling her sides. Her giggles rose to shrieks of laughter and she thrashed around, trying to escape him and inflect her own amount of tickling at the same time, while he tried the same.  
  
He rolled over, forgetting they were still in his rather narrow bed, and fell to the floor with her collapsing on top of him. The shock of falling made the both of them stop, lying still and only attempting to breathe through giggles. "You're. a pain." He gasped out, trying to catch back his breath.  
  
A fit of giggles escaped her, "And you're ticklish." She grinned, then wrapped her arms around him, laying her head against his chest, closing her eyes and smiling happily as she gave him a huge hug. He blinked slowly in shock, then smiled, chortling. He sat up and she scooted back, sitting in his lap with her hand bracing herself on the floor.  
  
"So whatcha wanna do?" She asked, titling her head to one side like a curious puppy.  
  
"Dunno, food sounds good."  
  
"Food does sound good." She agreed solemnly, then grinned at him again, scrambling out of his lap and standing up, hands on her hips. "So does that mean we eat breakfast?"  
  
"Maybe, breakfast sounds good." He grinned and she giggled, nodding again.  
  
"Yep, especially breakfast with food." She half skipped over to the door, stopping there to look back at him. "I'm gonna go get dressed, okay?"  
  
"Yeah, me too. Then I'll get us some breakfast with food, kay?" He watched her nod, still giggling to herself, and then bounce towards the room at the end of the hall. Her room, it was right to call it that, he mused, shutting the door and stripping off his night clothes and changing into a pair of jeans and a tattered black T-shirt that had, "I Love Me, But Who Wouldn't?" strewn across the front in bright neon letters. Once dressed, he headed towards the kitchen, intent on making breakfast, although he wasn't quite sure how well THAT was going to turn out.  
  
About ten minutes later, Nicky bounced out of her room, headed to the bathroom where she splashed water back from her face and attempted to smooth down her ratty hair, gave up and half-danced toward the kitchen, singing to herself. She was quite surprised though when she entered the kitchen and found that it had vanished and a war-zone had somehow replaced it. BJ stood in the middle of it all, scowling and muttering curses at the frying pan that he was attempting to separate with an item that vaguely resembled a pancake.  
  
"Is that food?" Nicky spoke up, having had been watching the battle with interest from a seat at the table for several minutes and speaking after he'd managed to pry the. thing from the pan and dump it onto a waiting plate.  
  
"Uh.maybe?" He said, looking a bit sheepish at the plate, which he dumped down in front of her.  
  
She stared at it quite intently for a full minute before whispering reverently, her eyes still fixed on the object, "What is it?"  
  
"Um, an egg?"  
  
She experimentally poked at it, then picked it up (amused by the fact that it was solid as a rock) and nibbled at it. "Sorta tastes like caterpillars. Y'know, those orange one's that only come in the summer time when it's reaaaally hot out?"  
  
"Is that good or bad?" He raised an eyebrow with the question, at the same time not really shocked by the fact that Nicky ate caterpillars.  
  
"Neither?" The answer had an uplifting tone to it, more of a question than an answer and he chuckled, grabbing the coffee pot and pouring himself some.  
  
"That'll do then." He sat down opposite her, noticing her outfit for the first time, a pair of black jeans and a long-sleeved purple shirt that had black cobwebs all over it. The kid was SUCH a natural Goth, he thought to himself, amused.  
  
Breakfast passed in companionable silence and when Nicky had finished her caterpillar-tasting egg, she stood up, looking around for where she should put her empty plate.  
  
"Sink." Beetlejuice motioned to the already full kitchen appliance with a nod of his head. She walked over, scrutinizingly studying the mound of dishes before finding a place to tuck hers away.  
  
"Well, I'm gonna go put all my clothes away, kay?" She spun around to face him, hands behind her back as she balanced on one foot.  
  
"S'fine, I'll prolly still be in here when you're done." He answered, settling back in his rickety chair and watching her carefully hop out of the room on one foot.  
  
Nicky rummaged though the paper bag, pulling out articles of clothing and sorting them. 'Let's see.pants, pants, shirts, shirts, underoooooos." She hummed merrily to herself as she mentally stated the names of the clothes as she divided them into their own piles. The dresser in the room was empty, so it was easy to put away the clothes, pants in one drawer, shirts in another, etc., and once she'd finished, she ran out of the room, giggling madly. BJ was, as he'd said, still in the kitchen, lingering over the lukewarm remains of his coffee and skimming over the newspaper. He looked up as barged in, grinning at him like a lunatic. Or just one, overly- energetic hyperactive kid.  
  
"C'mon, let's do something!" She tugged on his hand, and he stood up, letting himself be lead around.  
  
"What?"  
  
She shrugged with her free arm, "I dun care, what's in the back yard?"  
  
He shrugged with his own free shoulder. "Junk."  
  
Her eyes widened in interest. "Like the garage?" She squealed hopefully.  
  
The ghost managed a smile at her. "Yeah. Guess collecting junk, or uh, just not clearing it away is a hobby of mine. The living room had a glass door that led to a small back porch that had been screened in at one time, and was, predictably, cluttered with more junk. They wove through the mess on the floor to get to the door, which took a moment of grunting and pushing for Nicky to force it open. One of her silly-sounding laughs escaped her as she looked around, wide-eyed at the yard, vast and covered with naturally brown grass and small mountains of odds and ends, like a mini junk yard.  
  
"Oooo!" She let go of his hand and ran ahead, disappearing behind a mound, laughter in her wake. BJ dug his hands into his jeans pockets, following at a moderate pace, an amused half-grin on his face. When he caught up with her, she was closely inspecting a small trampoline. Her eyes met his in question as he walked up and he nodded.  
  
"S'all right, knock yerself out." He settled on a decaying couch, watching her climb onto the trampoline. And stay on the damned thing for nearly an hour, singing and jumping non-stop before she finally got off her adrenaline rush and climbed off. She managed to wobble over to him and plop down on the spot next to him, the springs of the cushion groaning in protest even under her modest weight.  
  
She sighed in both exhaustion and contentment, relaxing into the creaky sofa. "Man, THAT was fun."  
  
"Yeah, and I think we're both benefiting from you getting that outta your system." He remarked with a rueful shake of head, while she took the opportunity to snuggle up against him, body slumped with fatigue.  
  
"BJ?" She said after a long moment, nuzzling her head against his chest.  
  
"Huh?" Instinctively, he wrapped an arm around her, making it more comfortable for both of them to snuggle on the couch.  
  
"Um, when I got here yesterday morning, you were all surprised-like and said I was living." Her brow furrowed in thought. "Aren't you?"  
  
"Nah, I'm dead. The ghost with the most." He said proudly, looking down at her with an impish grin.  
  
She giggled at the title. "Is everyone else here ghosts too?"  
  
"Yeah, the Netherworld is the Land of the Dead, after all."  
  
"Oh, I get it. And it makes sense why you're so old. How old again?"  
  
"638. No wait." He looked up at the sky thoughtfully, squinting an eye. "Sorry, 1,276 years old."  
  
"Didn't you say 638 yesterday?"  
  
"Uh yeah, it's half of my age. I'm actually not quite sure why I said it, though. Just get a little mixed up sometimes, I guess." He tapped his head to emphasize the point.  
  
She nodded in understanding. "It's okay, everybody gets like that, right? Sooo. what did you do when you were alive then?"  
  
"Fer chrissakes, you. how th' heck are you asking that with a straight face?" He wondered, still baffled by how the kid was able to take in things so easily.  
  
"Um, cause my face isn't all scrunched up?" She replied innocently.  
  
"Never mind." He ruffled her hair with a grin. "Well, when I was alive." He stopped, eyes raising to stare at the mountain of junk they were facing. Shit, it'd been a long time since he'd thought about it.  
  
Nicky waited quietly, sensing that his silence was important. "Well, I lived a long time ago, obviously, back in Europe when it wasn't Europe. I'm guessing it was somewhere in the general Germany area or.. I dunno. It ain't important. My family was really poor, and we all lived in a little village and well, life was pretty boring and we had to take care of the crops and all sorts of fun stuff like that. Actually, the only thing that really made living good was my sister."  
  
"You had a sister?" Nicky's voice was soft and gentle, some sixth sense holding the tone there.  
  
"Yeah, Danielle. My Mom and Dad weren't exactly the brightest stars of the dark ages, but Danielle.Man she was smart. And a sly little bit." He stopped, mentally smacking himself for not watching his mouth near Nicky. "Brat." The ghost corrected himself, silently astonished by the simple fact that he was curbing his swearing, then continued. "She was a couple years younger than me, and she was pretty much the only friend I had. There weren't all that many other kids my age growing up, so she was the only one anyway." He smiled fondly, thinking back.  
  
But the smile faded, expression growing a bit dark though as he resumed. "But when she was 20, she got real sick, and died. Not really sure what it was, but it didn't really matter. You were lucky if you lived up to 35 years back then, y'know? And then.I guess life just lost it's colors fer me. And then, only a couple of months later, I got sick and died too. Didn't really put up too much of a fight, there wasn't much for me to live for." His voice was unnaturally soft and then her arms wrapped around him, hugging him fiercely as the girl's tears fell onto his T-shirt from where her head was burrowed against it.  
  
"Hey, hey, don't do that." His voice rose, a little panicky and he reached up a hand to smooth down her hair in an attempt to get her to simmer down. "It happened a long time ago, alright?"  
  
"Doesn't matter. It's still sad." She whispered, resting her head against the steady warmth of his chest, tiny fingers touching his arm. "Did you ever find her? When you died?"  
  
"Nah, but y'know, it's not really all that easy to find anybody in the Netherworld. Everyone goes different places when they die, and the Land of the Dead doesn't really have any limits on how big it is."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"Huh? Why?"  
  
"You know why." Nicky's voice was barely above a whisper, still shaky from the aftermath of her tears.  
  
"Guess so." He said, still petting her hair and closing his eyes in contentment. All this time he'd been dead and all the people he'd met. and the person that read him like a book was a little six-year old girl with intelligent bright eyes. The emerald orbs gazed up at him now and she smiled, as at ease as he was. They sat for long time in silence before he broke it, eyes still closed while he spoke. "Y'know, most ghosts as old as me don't last. They lose all purpose and usually go so crazy that they just stop existing."  
  
"Stop existing?"  
  
"Something like that. Or they just become spirits that go back and forth through the Netherworld. Some of them know what they're doing, but most don't."  
  
"So why hasn't it happened to you?"  
  
"Probably because I'm too hyper to let it happen." He articulated with a laugh. "Plus I do stuff, so things don't get too boring."  
  
"What sort of stuff?"  
  
He shifted, suddenly uncomfortable with the honesty of the whole situation and the fact that he felt the need to continue on with it. "Stuff I probably shouldn't be doing. See, I want to get out of the Netherworld for good, but it's not all that easy. Lot of shit's happened to me in this rather long life, and. I'll tell you about it later, kay?"  
  
"Okay." She nodded her approval, closing her eyes as a wave of drowsiness hit her, both from how comfortable she felt and from the exhaustion that comes from totally listening to another person.  
  
Beetlejuice noticed her weight added and her breathing even out as she fell asleep and he thoughtfully gazed up at the sky. ' I SHOULD tell the kid about that rather long life, but. not now. She's too young to hear about it anyhow.' Feeling secure in that thought, he closed his eyes, ready for a nap himself.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~  
  
A slight breeze brushed Nicky's bangs back, cooling her and alerting her awake. Her eyes snapped open and she looked around in confusion for a split second, recognizing her surroundings. Snuggled up in the crook of BJ's arm on a creaky couch in his back yard, with him still asleep. She yawned, muscles tightening as she stretched and sat up, scooting around to face the ghost slumped tiredly on the cushions. A sweet smile crossed her lips and she affectionately brushed his longish hair from his face. His eyes shot open instantly, looking at her. Her tiny fingers tucked the strand of hair behind his hair and then retreated as she set her hands in her lap, smiling at him wider. "'Lo."  
  
"Hey." He rubbed an eye sleepily, smiling as he did so. "You're crazy, you know that? Or just unbearably cute."  
  
"Or both." She nodded, then grinned with a playful wink.  
  
"I'm still trying to figure out how you manage to hang out with me and. I dunno, not get freaked out or anything. And I guess it's more than just hanging out, you actually wanna get close to me." His brow furrowed in confusion.  
  
She looked down, expression turning somber as she answered. "Why does that matter? Y'know, Mother and Father were very beautiful to look at, like they were perfect." She raised her eyes to him, now filled with tears. "But it doesn't mean anything. The way you look doesn't mean a thing."  
  
"Hey hey, s'all right." Beetlejuice was already recognizing the 'I-need-a- hug' look and he wrapped his arms around her, giving the slender body a slight squeeze.  
  
She smiled, bringing her own arms around to return the hug, resting her head against his shoulder. "Anyway, I like the way you look."  
  
He chuckled good-naturedly, "You would." They drew back and she smiled, eyes closing in happiness. Another breeze rustled through and he looked up, realizing that the sun was already quite low in the sky. "It's getting' late, huh? You hungry?"  
  
"Mmhmm!" She nodded enthusiastically, clambering off the sofa with him close behind as she led him back into the house.  
  
"I'll make some food for dinner, alright?" He said as they passed through the glass doors and into the living room, ready to venture into the unknown territory known as "cooking" again.  
  
"N'kay, can you call me when it's done?" She requested, heading for her room after he nodded.  
  
Beetlejuice stalked into the kitchen, chewing absently on his tongue as he tried to figure out how to make supper without burning the house down.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Nicky! Dinner's ready!" He stopped, listening, but didn't hear any response. "Nicky?" He left the kitchen and headed for her room, which. was empty. "Nicky?" His voice rose a bit in concern, breath catching momentarily in his chest, but then a soft clicking noise coming form the bathroom alerted his attention. He paused, listening further and realizing it sounded like. scissors?  
  
"Nicky?" He tapped on the bathroom door. The noise stopped in response.  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"Dinner's ready. You alright?"  
  
"Yeah." Her tone dropped, and he blinked in concern.  
  
"You okay? Can I come in?" 'God, I'm actually asking permission to do something?!'  
  
"Guess so." He cautiously opened the door. Nicky stood at the sink, the scissors he kept in one of the bathroom drawers for clipping his hair in her hands, long pieces of her own hair at her feet and strewn all over the counter. What was left of it was short and uneven, with some pieces still not cut and draping messily down her shoulders.  
  
"Hey, what're you. Why'd you cut your hair?"  
  
"Because I hate it. And I. guess I feel freer without it. Does that make sense?"  
  
"It could." He stepped closer, gently taking the scissors from her. "You want me to fix it up for you?" She nodded, managing a tiny smile and he knelt down, making quick work of her hair and getting it. not exactly in a straight line. 'Well, it looks better than it did.' He tried to reassure himself, although it looked as though a pair of hedge clippers had gone at it. Not that she seemed to mind.  
  
"Thanks!" She brightened, spinning around and placing a tiny peck on his nose. He sat back in astonishment, as if the tiny touch had knocked him down while she shook her head, amazed at how light it felt now, running her fingers through it and scrubbing at it to get the loose strands out, the pieces falling to the tile like feathery snow. "So we eat food now?" She wondered and he pushed himself up, putting the scissors back in the drawer.  
  
"Sounds good."  
  
Dinner was burned spaghetti and beetles, but Nicky had no complaints (although the chef had a lot more trouble shoveling down his creation). After they dumped the dishes in the sink, each headed to their own rooms to get dressed for bed. Once he'd finished, BJ found a broom and dustpan in the garage and swept up all the hair in the bathroom, all the while trying to figure out why she would cut her hair.  
  
As he gathered up the last of it up, the ghost realized that the raggy hair was a sign of neglect on her real parents' part, and that it probably reminded her of her bad experiences with them, weigh her down more mentally than physically. Scowling fiercely, he dumped the hair into the old fireplace in the living room and pulled a box of matches from his jeans pocket. He lit one, tossing it onto the small pile of hair in the fireplace.  
  
The ghost stood still, watching with unnaturally somber eyes as the split ends of hair burned away and didn't move from the spot until it was all gone. Tucking the matches back into his packet, he went to go tuck Nicky into bed, his heart amazingly lighter. She smiled and kissed him on the nose again after she'd slipped under the covers and he was pulling them up to her chin. "Night." He said as he clicked off the light and she smiled, resting her head back against the pillows.  
  
"Night." She smiled back.  
  
His gentle smile didn't fade as he headed for his own room and climbed into bed, staring at the ceiling thoughtfully for almost ten minutes before his attention was diverted by a gentle knock on the door.  
  
Nicky shyly poked her head in, eyes wide and innocent. "Can I sleep with you again?"  
  
A soft 'tsu' sounded from his lips as they formed into a laughing smile and he sat up. "No problem, c'mere."  
  
Her face broke into a grin and she did so, carefully climbing up into the coffin bed and lying next to him. As he pulled the covers over the both of them, her voice broke out with a question. "Um, BJ?"  
  
"Eh?"  
  
"Um, I well, what's your real name? I don't like BJ."  
  
He shifted, a little uncomfortable with answering. "Well, actually, I uh. can't tell ya."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"It's a long story."  
  
"Oh." She was still with thoughtful silence for a long moment. "Then will you tell me later?"  
  
He nodded, breathing a mental sigh of relief at her tone and how fine it was with the situation. "Yeah I will. Promise, okay?" 'And I will, just as soon as I think you're old enough to take it all in.' He concluded mentally.  
  
"That's fine. But." The pause was extremely long and she looked into his eyes as she continued, which were a very faint shade of green, almost looking like a gun metal gray. "Then. can I call you Dad? BJ's too.um, impersonal. Or something." Her expression was both thoughtful and pleading as she kept her gaze with his, obviously trying to figure out what to say. "I just. can I call you Dad?"  
  
He blinked rapidly, swallowing away the lump that was forming in his throat then drew her into a huge hug, his face buried into her hair. ""Do you really want to?"  
  
"Yes." The tone had the finality in it of someone who knew what they were talking about and she tightened her hold on him to accent the word.  
  
He pulled back, eyes glassy as he brushed her now short (and choppy) bangs from her forehead. "Yeah. yeah, that's fine, Nicky." Content, she snuggled back against him, closing her eyes.  
  
Her pale lips moved, the softest of whispers escaping them as she nestled herself further against him. "I love you." With those words, she fell asleep as his arms tightened around her more.  
  
He closed his own eyes, a smile lifting the corners of them up. Just before he drifted off to sleep, a thought occurred to him. 'She called them Mother and Father. But me. I'm Dad. And I love her too.' The smile stayed on his face even after he'd fallen asleep.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Man, can it get any sappier? But I really did love this chapter. Whatja think? Feedback please? I'm a little review whore. :P 


	4. A Walk Around the House of a Family

A Walk Around the House of a Family By: Kichara  
Well, Kichara the Review Whore thanks you all! I got 2 new reviews in 2 days and it actually got my lazy butt to finally finish this chapter. I just hope it doesn't sound too choppy. I've written and re-written and altered it so I think it makes sense, but that could just be me cuz I'm living off of a steady diet of pixy sticks and Code Red Mountain Dew. Enjoy much and tell what you think (and please don't spork me!) Although it would be terribly amusing to have a grave stone with "Here Lies Kichara, Death by Spork, May we All Benefit From her Absence and Now she Can't Poke Us With Badgers" :P  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
Something smelt good. That was the first, very vague thought that Beetlejuice had and he rolled over in bed, slowly waking up. Which was always a slow process, and could take hours to complete if he wanted to.  
  
"Daaaaaaaaad!!!!!" Not that it ever happened. Something started pulling on his arm and he groaned, burying his head in the pillow. "Daaaaaaaaaad!!" The sing-song voice repeated and he grumbled, trying to ignore it and get back to sleep. And then he was hit by a small shower of ice-cold water.  
  
The ghost bolted up, dripping and blinking in confusion at the young woman standing by his bed with a bucket over one shoulder, cocky grin on her face. He growled, but was cut off by her chipper voice. "Now don't get grumpy. I made breakfast and have been trying to get you up for the past half an hour." She bent over, kissing him on the nose and he rolled his eyes to the ceiling, smiling good-naturedly.  
  
"Alright, alright." He said, feigning grumpiness as he stood up. "But it had better be a dammed good breakfast."  
  
She tossed him the towel that had been slung over her slender shoulder, still grinning. "Hey, I'm the one that can actually cook, remember?"  
  
"Brat. I'm getting better at it and you know it." He grumbled, toweling his hair dry and following her out of the bedroom and into the living room.  
  
"Mayyyyybe." She giggled and winked at him as he sat down at the table and she placed a plate in front of him, sitting down opposite him with her own plate.  
  
"So you're goin' down to the studio today right?"  
  
"Mmhmm." She said around a forkful of food, managing a close-lipped smile at him, amused by the fact that she wanted to smile, but had a mouthful of food.  
  
"Whatcha doing?"  
  
She swallowed the food and took a sip of her coffee before answering. "We should be getting the final version of 'Harsh Wind' done and I want to run a new idea through everyone."  
  
"That's the song that's um, isn't it the one about the girl and the guy and she left him."  
  
She shook her head. "Nuh-uh, it's the one with the haiku chorus, remember?"  
  
"Oh yeah." He smiled at her fondly. "Very original idea, I might add."  
  
"Thanks." She beamed as she shoveled in another bite of food and swallowed, then continued. "I thought so too." She cast a quick look at the bat-shaped clock on the wall behind him. "Speaking of which, I should get going. I've got to open up today and the guys get grumpy if they have to wait around in the morning. I'd kick their ass if I didn't love 'em so much." A soft laugh tickled her throat as she stood up, gathering together her dirty dishes and setting them in the sink, rinsing them off and placing them in the dish washer, then hurried out of the room.  
  
Nicky hurried to her room, snatching a worn satchel from a hook on the wall. The bag was extremely raggedy, the big spider (although it was a bit hard to tell that was exactly what it was) that was embezzled on the side of it coming off in more than one place. She stubbornly refused to get rid of the bag, as it had been a rather special birthday present. Quite a few years back, there had been a satchel that was on display in a store window that she and her Dad saw whenever they had to make a trip to the grocery store. She'd fallen in love with it, and he'd decided to get it for her for her birthday.  
  
However, when he went to go buy it, it was gone, purchased by someone earlier that day, so he bought a plain one instead, cut a spider out of fabric and painstakingly sewed it on the side as a replacement. Nicky had almost cried when he gave it to her and told her about it, telling him it was hundreds of times better than the one she'd wanted from the store. She smiled at the memory, taking a moment to let her fingers trail along the cloth before grabbing her lyric notebook and shoving it into the knapsack. The young woman slung it over one slender shoulder and half-jogged out of the room, shouting out a good bye as she ran out the front door.  
  
The morning air was crisp and pleasantly cool as she hurried out onto the front lawn. The young woman stopped, taking it in and looking around her, at the sky that was flushing from a deep purple into a bright orange, the crooked house behind her that was her home, and the grass at her feet. She blinked, crouching down and touching the dewy blades, realizing it was the exact same spot where she'd arrived, all those years ago. Nicky stared at the untidy grass for a long moment, then stood up and ran back into the house. Dad was still in the kitchen, draining the remains of the coffee and she danced over to him, giving him a light hug and gently placing kiss on the end of his nose.  
  
"Forgot." She explained sheepishly and turned to leave, casting out another goodbye over her shoulder, "Love you, I'll see you later tonight, okay?"  
  
He grinned, beaming and nodded. "Alright, see ya tonight, kid." She smiled back at him, the gentle upturning of her lips full of simple, child-like love, than ran back out of the kitchen.  
  
Beetlejuice ran a hand through his messy hair, scratching at it vigorously as he smiled to himself. He finished off his coffee, and rinsed the mug off, placing it in the dishwasher with the rest of the breakfast dishes. The kitchen sink was almost always empty now, unlike the hundreds of years when a steady pile of dirty dishes would always be in it that he'd neglect to clean. They would sit there, abandoned, until they'd either become fused to each other with fungus, or grow legs and crawl off, while the rest of them would eventually throw away and he'd just get new one's. Which he would never clean. An excellent show of laziness and the vicious cycle of it, he mused with a grin.  
  
But only a couple of days after Nicky had come to live with him, she'd pulled a chair up to the sink, rolled up her sleeves and (literally) attacked the dishes, scrubbing them all clean and spotless. She'd actually motivated him to fix the dishwasher, which in turn made it easy to keep the kitchen a livable environment where one didn't have to worry about piles of unwashed dishes and the slime clinging to them. Her presence had been more motivating than he'd ever imagined it would be, getting him to do all sorts of things he'd always been too lazy to do before.  
  
Like get a job. That particular experience hadn't happened all that long ago, when Nicky had decided that she wanted some extra money, and had landed a job at a fast food place called The Grease Pot that had just opened. Because they needed more people (and because he felt bad about sitting around the house and not doing anything constructive while she worked), he'd managed to get a job there too. It hadn't been all that bad, and he and Nicky got all the free food they could want.  
  
And then one day while Nicky was mopping up the floors and singing to herself, she got the attention of a man sitting at one of the tables. He loved her singing and immediately asked her if she was interested in being the lead singer of a band he was putting together. She'd laughed at first, sure that he was only joking with her, but he'd assured her he wasn't. The idea got her thinking and after work that day she walked down to his studio to check it out and talk with him more. The next she'd quite from the Grease Pot and had been singing and writing songs ever since.  
  
She hadn't really liked the band he, Mr. Ashfield, had put together, but with her help, they got a new and better one together. Nicky wrote almost all of their songs, which were performed in various styles of rock. She was extremely happy and had made her dad quit his job, as the only real reason why she hadn't protested him working was because it was fun to have someone to throw French fries at (which always ended in epic Fry Wars) when the manager wasn't looking, now wanting only for him to support her singing.  
  
The ghost drifted into the living room, stopping to look over several pictures sitting atop the entertainment center, which hosted a huge TV and a collection of over a thousand movies. Both he and Nicky were huge movie buffs. It was a ritual that they picked one night out of the week to just watch videos until they fell asleep on the couch, a forgotten bowl of chocolate-covered grasshoppers sitting on the floor in front of them.  
  
The pictures were only of him and Nicky, as he really didn't have anyone else whose picture he'd really care to have put on display in the living room. She'd proven to have a knack for photography at an early age after she'd come across an old camera in the backyard. The piece of machinery was rather exceptional, as it was home to a little spirit. Once she'd cleaned it up, the harmless creature had woken up, materializing into tiny hazy cloud that had curled up against her chin. She'd bonded with it immediately, calling him Igor and the spirit had happily fallen back into the camera. It's presence made the camera float around, always taking pictures of Nicky and Beetlejuice, neither of them realizing it until the film would finish and he'd get it developed for her.  
  
She'd arranged the pictures in chronological order, starting from pictures when she was a scrawny five year old hanging from his shoulders to when she looked as though she were about eight years old and he was teaching her how to ride a bike, to when she looked as though she were about eleven and he was teaching her how to fly. She still wasn't all that good at it, even now, but could go for short distances, although she said she preferred not wasting the energy trying to perform the task unless she had to.  
  
The whole aging process with Nicky was rather unnatural. She didn't age normally, doing so at an extremely slow pace and as she did so, she began to take on the appearance of a dead person more and more, slowly losing the fleshy tone of her skin, which eventually became unnaturally pale, with blackish circles forming around her eyes and even a pair of fangs growing in her mouth. Everyone's body reacted differently to death, although he wasn't quite sure how to define her 'death'.  
  
'Is Nicky really dead?' He wondered, as he had countless times before. He'd never heard of a mortal entering the Netherworld and staying there for an extremely long time, and had no idea how one would react to it, and there really wasn't anyone he'd wanted to ask. It didn't really matter to him, as she was perfectly happy and he too. They'd been through a lot, and as she'd put it to him, they'd done it a family, and that just made everything right.  
  
'Right.' He laughed softly. She had this way of expressing her thoughts and feeling in a simple, childish way, justifying things as "the way that it is" and" all right" and "because my feet made me move". Just sayings that were so simple that they made sense.  
  
"And that's just because that's the way it is. That's all there is to it." He stood over by the patio door, one arm up on the glass as he looked outside at the morning sky and smiled.  
  
*~*~*~*  
  
Right, there ya go, lads and lasses! Not much to say here, I think I said it all at the beginning. Oh, but a qwik note for Spencers13: I luv you! ^^ *in Sean Connery voice* That is all. 


	5. Things Go Tumbling Down

Souls That Need Each Other  
  
Chapter 5: Things Go Tumbling Down  
  
By: Kichara  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Alright, I'll see you guys later!" Nicky called out, her hand on the studio's door.  
  
"Are you sure you wanna go home already?" Jack whined pleadingly. "Why don't you come hang out with us at the Shack? It's karaoke night."  
  
She smiled, shaking her head. "Thanks but no thanks. My Dad's making dinner and I don't want to miss it."  
  
'It's only 4 o'clock!" Hildi, another one of Nicky's band mates, protested.  
  
Nicky twisted the doorknob, pushing the door open with her back. "So? Anyway, it's going to rain." She added matter-of-factly.  
  
Logan, the last band member rolled his eyes at her. "It is NOT going to rain, Nicky; It's the DROUGHT season, remember?"  
  
She shook her head, something like worry seeming to flash across her cheery face for a second. "No, it's going to rain." The tone had a certain amount of finality and an almost child-like certainty to it that none of them could argue against. Her face brightened again as she pushed the door open fully and she called back to them as she stepped outside. "I'll see you later! Thanks for the awesome rehearsal, guys!  
  
The afternoon sun was calming and warm on her dark hair. She brushed her long purple bangs from her eyes and looked up at the clear sky, shaking her head with a rueful smile. 'Geez, Logan's right; it's not going to rain. Why the heck would I say that anyway? Anyway, I wonder what Dad's cooking tonight. Spaghetti, no doubt. It's about the only thing he can make without burning it and half the kitchen down. If he's lucky, that is.' She added mentally, chuckling to herself.  
  
For the most part, she did the main portion of the cooking, as she was easily the better cook of the household. 'Dad can barely heat up leftovers without blowing something up.' Bout a couple of times a month, he'd make dinner just for the two of them. Her iron stomach had no complaints, and the only reason she teased him about his awful food preparations was because. it was fun. Some of the best moments they'd shared were the one's where the both of them acted like absolute 4-year-old's, Nicky realized with a tender smile.  
  
The sudden urge to get home faster seized her and she put on more sped to her walk, eager to get there as she quickly side-stepped fellow pedestrians and the occasional car that swerved onto the sidewalk, courtesy of it's deranged driver, whose origins were almost definitely that of a New York city taxi driver. There was an unusually large crowd in front if the courthouse and Nicky and to slow her pace as she wove through the maze of people standing around, listening to a sharp-looking ghost in a blazer, who was standing at the top of the steps, voice magically amplified as he addressed the mass of people.  
  
Nicky was only partially listening, but some of his words suddenly caught her earnest attention. "In an attempt to keep the peace and justice of our city, we've put the ghost known as Beetlejuice under arrest on the charges of illegally bringing a living child to the Netherworld." The young woman stopped, every muscle in her slender body taunt, her emerald eyes wide. "He actually has had the audacity to manipulate this poor girl into somehow thinking that he was a parental figure, which of course is the only reason she hasn't tried to contact the proper authorities about the case. Many of the citizens, probably even some here, have had bad experiences with the mischievous and often malice nature of this ghost and I'm sure they will support me in my actions here. This menace is currently imprisoned and the situation, I'm glad to announce, is completely under control. I'm sure the city shares my elation in knowing that."  
  
Whatever he was planning on saying next, as well as his smug grin, vanished when Nicky's fist made harsh contact with his haw. He fell backwards, looking up at the irate young woman in shock, while several guards stepped up and grabbed her arms, holding her tightly.  
  
She struggled against their firm hold, all the while maintaining piercing eye contact with the man on the ground as she flailed about. "What the hell have you done with my Dad, you asshole? What's going on?! You-you don't know what happened!! You don't know anything, you-you." She screamed wordlessly, unable to manage any more words as she struggled against the hold on her body, boots scraping loudly on the concrete as she kicked and tried to get back at the man, who'd gotten up and was retreating backwards to the courthouse doors, obviously not wanting to turn his back on the howling creature with the fierce emerald eyes as he slipped inside, closing them after him.  
  
The guards let Nicky go now and she screamed, immediately launching herself at the doors, which refused to open. She pounded at them, shrieking obscenities at no one in particular. How long she slammed against the unrelenting doors, she had no idea. But the crowd had dissipated and vanished when all strength and fury escaped her and she stumped over to the steps, dropping to them heavily. Wearily she let her elbows rest on her knees, hands dangling, with her shoulders slumped and head bowed. And as her tears began hitting the cold stone at her feet, rain began to fall.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Oh, it sure is nice to get out of the house." Barbara remarked to her husband, giving his hand a squeeze.  
  
"Yeah, but it isn't exactly the Bahamas." Adam answered, glancing at the tall crooked buildings lining the street they were walking along.  
  
"It's alright. Like I said, I'm just happy to get out of the house. We've been cooped up there forever."  
  
Once Lydian had moved out at the age of twenty-one, her parents had done the same, finding no reason to want to stay there with Barbara and Adam. They'd gone back to the city, where Charles bought a condo for Delia to manipulate all she wanted. No one had moved back into the Maitland's old house since, too intimidated by the butchering that Delia and Otho had given it.  
  
Barbara, bored out of her mind with nothing too do, had been flipping through their Handbook for the Recently Deceased and had happened upon a loophole that said they could travel to the Netherworld, even though they hadn't gone through their 130 years yet, under the assumption that they were there to arrange an appointment. Although Barbara just wanted to get some shopping done after missing out on it for the past 90 years.  
  
Both Barbara and Adam had been missing Lydia immensely, who was getting too old and tired to make the trips up to see them like she had in the years past. And of course they didn't have a phone. Not that they'd bee able to pay for the bills, and since no one lived at the house, she couldn't send letters to them. The lack of seeing and talking to the girl that had been like a daughter to them had gotten to both of them, especially Barbara, who had had a woman's sort of link with Lydia that had completely passed over Adam's head when he tried to figure it out.  
  
"I can't believe we never tried to figure out if we could get out of the house sooner. It's not like there's been anything to do." Adam said, sidestepping an uneven slab of concrete.  
  
"I know, I've had such a bad case of cabin fever for the longest time. Wouldn't it be funny, if we went back and there was actually someone in the house?"  
  
He chuckled. "Wishful thinking, and you know it honey." He leaned over, gracing her cheek with a gentle kiss. She smiled warmly, holding his hand tighter. There wasn't a day that went by where she didn't think about how incredibly lucky she was to have met Adam when she was alive, and now had all her afterlife to spend with him.  
  
They came up on a huge building that seemed to be a courthouse, dark purple with tall white pillars and regal steps leading up to it. A huge crowd had gathered in front of the building and the married couple stopped, looking around to try to figure out what was going on. They almost immediately noticed that the crowd's attention was fixed on a man that was standing at the top of the stairs, announcing some news to them.  
  
"We just wanted to make sure that the citizens of this area realize what's going on as we, especially myself, believe it's essential for you to know of current situations. In an attempt to keep the peace and justice of our city, we've put the ghost known as Beetlejuice-" At them mention of the ghost's name, Barbara and Adam exchanged quick wide-eyed glances, holding each other's hands tighter. "--under arrest on the charges of illegally bringing a living child to the Netherworld.  
  
"He actually has had the audacity to manipulate this poor girl into somehow thinking that he was a parental figure, which of course is the only reason she hasn't tried to contact the proper authorities about the case." A figure suddenly brushed by Adam and Barbara roughly, shoving their way through the thick mass of people as they ran up towards the steps. It was a young woman with black and purple hair, whose lips were pulled back in a feral snarl, eyes narrowed to slits. "Many of the citizens, probably even some here, have had bad experiences with the mischievous and often malice nature of this ghost and I'm sure they will support me in my actions here. This menace is currently imprisoned and the situation, I'm glad to announce, is completely under control. I'm sure the city shares my elation in knowing that."  
  
The woman smashed the man in the face. Gasps and murmurs ran through the crowd, while Barbara and Adam only stood silently, watching the woman, whose shoulders were shaking with suppressed anger, fists clenching and unclenching. Several guards stepped up and grabbed a hold of her before she could continue her attack on the man, as she so obviously wanted to do.  
  
"What the hell have you done with my Dad, you asshole? What's going on?! You-you don't know what happened!! You don't know anything, you-you." Her fierce words cut off into a scream of pure hate and frustration as she kicked and tried to push the guards off her. The man stood up and backed up to the courthouse doors, which he opened and slipped inside of.  
  
Her captors let her free now, and she immediately threw herself at the doors, first trying to force them open and when they wouldn't budge, she began pounding her fists into the solid stone. *Bam*  
  
"Come back out here, you coward!"  
  
*Bam*  
  
"What the hell's going on?!"  
  
*Bam*  
  
"You bastard! You bastard! YOU BASTARD!!!!"  
  
*Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam* She shrieked, voice tinged with vehemence, fists pummeling against the stone uselessly.  
  
An uneasy silence settled over the crush of people and they began shuffling off, seeming to be both fretful and on the edge. And all the while the girl continued pounding against the resisting doors. The crowd had vanished by the time she wore herself down, and there was only Barbara and Adam to watch as she trudged back to the steps, where she laid her head down on her crossed arms. As her shoulders began shaking with sobs, it began to rain.  
  
Barbara turned to her husband, her eyes wide and holding unshed tears. "Adam."  
  
"Well, I hadn't thought this day could rattle me more, but you've proved me wrong." A voice behind the couple spoke up, interrupting and they turned in surprise, recognizing the voice to be quite familiar.  
  
"Juno?" Adam blinked at the elderly ghost in surprise, who had an umbrella in one hand, a cigarette in the other.  
  
"What are you doing here?" She half-demanded, taking in a long drag from the cigarette.  
  
"We wanted to get some fresh air. But." Barbara cast her eyes towards the huddled-over figure on the steps, obviously not thinking much about them being there at the moment. "What's going on? Do you know what this is all about, Juno?"  
  
"Well, I really couldn't careless if you're here or not, even if you ARE breaking regulations. And as for. this. As far as I know, it's as Mr. Jackson put it to the crowd, Beetlejuice brought a living girl here and neglected to tell anyone about it. However, I have a feeling that there's a lot more to this story than is obvious." She turned, eyes unnaturally gentle and sympathetic as she turned them to the young woman that had attacked Mr. Jackson almost savagely. Nicky stood up, clothes clinging to her slender body from all the rain and she began walking down the steps, empty eyes focused only on the ground in front of her. She walked past the three without even looking up and continued down the abandoned street, not paying any mind to the rain that was still pouring down on her. The trio watched in quiet silence until she'd trudged out of sight.  
  
"What's her name, Juno?" Barbara asked softly.  
  
"It's Nicky." The ghost tossed her cigarette to the wet ground, stepping on it nonchalantly. "And that's about all I know. Other than the fact that she's a young woman that's in a lot of pain right now."  
  
* * * * *  
  
Whoa! And there goes my barely-ever seen angsty-ness! And there's still more to come!! Thank you soooo much for the reviews! I saw that I got 4 new one's in only 2 days after putting up my last chapter and they were so encouraging that I worked my arse off to get this one done! Thanks for telling me your thoughts about what's going on and again, for all the encouragement. It makes me fell all warm and tingly inside.. Like I ate a kitten. ^^ And they are fuel for Kichara the Happy Review Whore.  
  
Mucho thank and huggles to Spencers13! And yes, I DO love that man's voice. Seriously, what woman (or men that swing that way) HASN'T wanted to just do the voice? ^^ 


	6. Figure Things Out

Souls That Need Each Other  
  
Chapter 6: Figure Things Out  
  
By: Kichara  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
Um, my brain hurts..  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
"This is the place?" Adam looked over the little crooked house, somehow wondering how the piece of architecture was still standing.  
  
"That's right. Cripes, you'd think he'd have gotten a new house sometime this millennium." Juno said scornfully, lighting up what was her eighteen cigarette since she'd met up with the Maitland's earlier. After the incident at the courthouse, she'd walked with them to a nearby coffee shop and they'd mulled things over cups of black coffee. "You're sure you want to do this?"  
  
Barbara nodded, mouth set in a fierce line, a look that Adam recognized as 'the motherly one', which usually only took form when they were with Lydia. "What if there isn't anyone she can talk to? And I want to know what's what, from the person that could tell us the best. And I don't think she was brainwashed." She added, cutting off Adam's argument before he could even state it again.  
  
"But honey, they might have a point. Look, we both know that guy's got a lot of power; Don't you think it's possible that he could have."  
  
"You can call him Beetlejuice, Adam." Juno cut in, looking almost bitterly at the darkened sky above. "Once a ghost is captured and put into jail, a hold is put on their powers, and with Beetlejuice's case, also the calling of his name that brings him to where you are. They did it to make sure that he wouldn't be able to escape." She smiled grimly, adding, "I guess they have reason to think that he may have some friends that would want to help him. Or maybe a daughter." She cast her steely grey eyes to the house again, where rather loud and very angry-sounding music was blasting from.  
  
"And if they put a hold on his powers, then any brainwashing he would have done would have faded off on Nicky." Barbara concluded, walking through the grass towards the front door, her husband and Juno close behind. She could feel the wall trembling slightly underneath her fingertips as she pressed the doorbell, courtesy of the harsh music thumping from inside.  
  
A second after the bell sounded, the music inside ceased and the door in front of the trio swung open, revealing an irate creature wielding a rather heavy looking bat. "I told you fucking people that the only thing I'm telling you is to get off my property or I'm going to." She stopped, closely inspecting each of them with sharp, almost slitted eyes. "What a minute. You're not from the press, are you?"  
  
"No, but we do want to talk with you." Juno answered. Nicky tightened her hold on the bat. "We know your father."  
  
The grip on the bat loosened minusculely as the young woman suspiciously responded. "Good or bad way?"  
  
"It's debatable, considering the situation." Juno answered smoothly, "And you're the person I need to talk to to determine exactly what the situation is."  
  
Nicky slowly lowered the bat, settling it on her slender shoulder. "Alright, but if you're fucking with me, I'm hexing you all." She moved aside, motioning for them to come in.  
  
"Such language." The caseworker reprimanded.  
  
"Oh hush, I've have a bad day. To say the very least." She added, then pointed to the couch. "Sit." She quietly hesitated, then added in a slightly softer tone, "Please."  
  
They managed to squish together on the tiny sofa and she walked into the kitchen, where the sounds of crunching glass could be heard. Barbara's eyes were all over the room, decked out in shades of purple, green and black. Hundreds of video tapes were haphazardly stacked next to the TV, and the entertainment center and walls were covered in framed photographs that she was itching to look at. There wasn't much else in the room, except for a little table next to the couch topped with a lamp, an ancient speaker system and a bookcase overflowing with books tucked away in the corner.  
  
Nicky came back in, holding a chair from the kitchen. She set it down in front of them and sat in it, looking each over again very carefully before settling uneasily in the chair and saying, "So. what do you wanna know?"  
  
"Well, I suppose starting from the beginning would be a good idea." Juno started.  
  
Nicky cut off her words, "Like with your names? Don't you think I could at least get those before you start grilling me?" She set her fangs into a snarl, obviously irritated.  
  
Juno's mouth set into a very undiplomatic frown and Barbara, decided the best move was to jump in with an apologetic smile, before thing got ugly, "I'm very sorry, Nicky. We don't want to hurt you, and even if you don't believe us, I want you to know that I want to help, even if it's only in helping you feel better, as that may be the only thing I really can do. I'm not very powerful, and have no influence over what happens in the Netherworld. But I'm a woman that knows you want to talk to someone, and if that's all I can really do, I want to be a person you can talk to.  
  
"My name is Barbara, and I knew your father under rather unflattering circumstances. But after I saw you today, I knew that he had to be different, and the only reason that he would have been different is if you changed him. This is my husband, Adam, and this is Juno, our caseworker, who actually worked with your father at one time. Now will you please talk to us?" Adam watched both his wife, whose voice was gentle and heart-felt, and Nicky, whose face lost its ferocity, replaced be a quiet, almost child- like expression that watched his wife in wonder and thoughtfulness, as he looked on in astonishment, then smiles. 'And this is why I have no problem spending an eternity or two with this woman.' He thought to himself, eyes carefully watching his wife.  
  
Nicky stood up, lips parted in thoughtful silence. If she was planning on saying anything, it was suddenly interrupted by a boisterous pounding at the door, beat out almost to the tune of a melody. Recognition passed over her features, and she ran to the door, quickly opening it, as Juno, Barbara, and Adam got off the couch to see who it was. Three ghost teens stood on the porch, worried eyes set on Nicky. A long moment of silence passed before the three started talking at once, babbling in a frenzy of vexation.  
  
"Nicky, are you okay?"  
  
"We just found out and rushed over to see if you were alright!"  
  
"You were alive? Are you still, or what happened?"  
  
"I can't believe they did that to your Dad. Cripes, what the hell do they think they're doing?!"  
  
"Are you okay?!"  
  
She ushered them into the house silently and they crowded into the foyer, gathering closely around her. Her face was soft, green eyes extremely bright and the ranting ceased in a sudden snap. "Nicky?" A tall young man in boots and a ripped up tank top stepped forward, moss green hair half covering his dark eyes. She lifted her eyes to him, mouth trembling and then threw herself against him, hands fisting in his tank as she covered it in tears and mascara. He sighed, and hugged her, while the other boy and girl pressed against the two, holding them tight in a huge group hug.  
  
After a long moment, they separated, leading Nicky to the couch. She rubbed at her dirty face, only managing to smear it further. The girl, who had bright pink hair pulled into a pair of pigtails, hurried into the bathroom to get her some tissues, using them to wipe off Nicky's messy face. "I just don't get it." The girl mused quietly, rubbing forcefully to get the last bit of mascara off. "Where you really alive? Or. are you still?" Nicky shook her head, settling back onto the cushions.  
  
"I was when I first came here. But. I really don't think I am. I mean, it's really weird, since it took me 82 years to look like this." She motioned to her pale skin and dark eyes vaguely. "But now it's like I am, and I think I am. I just don't understand why it took me so long to do it, and why it took me that long to look like I'm only about 19 years old."  
  
"It's probably just your living body's natural reactions to being in the Land of the Dead." Juno, who'd only been watching everything silently with Barbara and Adam, spoke up now, stepping closer as she addressed the green- eyed woman. "There really aren't any examples of where someone that was still living managed to stay in the Netherworld long enough to see what would happen to them, as they usually only get here by accident and then are immediately sent back. It makes the most sense, at any rate. Your body was here, but your spirit was caught somewhere between the Netherworld and Limbo, the place between the world of the living and the world of the dead."  
  
She stepped closer, examining her closely. "And I think. that your spirit slowly moved from Limbo to your body here, which would allow it to slowly age, as well as allow you to grow more and more dead. And it feels like the transfer's finally complete, by the feel of you. Has anything happened recently that sounds like that?"  
  
Nicky blinked, then nodded quickly, eyes wide in astonishment. "Yeah, actually. Just a couple of weeks ago, I was out on the roof and it suddenly, I felt really light and then there was a bright light, and I must've blacked out. And when I woke up, I.. felt whole, I guess." She blinked again. "That makes sense, then, doesn't it?"  
  
Juno nodded in agreement. "And if that happened a couple of weeks ago, then the office that handled souls entering the Netherworld would've noticed you for the first time. And they would've contacted the authorities about the incident. Which in turn somehow led to them coming to conclusions and coming here to arrest Beetlejuice. Although that part still has me puzzled, as I don't know how they could know that, but. Well, can you tell us everything and maybe we'll be coming to some sort of conclusion?"  
  
"Okay, but I've got a question. Why didn't anyone notice when I first got to the Netherworld?"  
  
Juno's gray eyebrows furrowed in thought. "How old were you?"  
  
"Umm, four, I think." She pushed back her long purple bangs with her black- painted nails.  
  
"It's very possible that it's only because you were so young, and not very strong, therefore not making you very noticeable at all. If anyone noticed anything, they probably thought you were just a little spirit and nothing more. And as you got older and stronger, your spirit in the Netherworld grew just enough to mask the fact that you were sill somewhat alive."  
  
"Well, I didn't get any of that." Nicky's friend with the green hair spoke up, one eyebrow raised in question.  
  
The pigtailed girl gave his arm a friendly slap, rolling her eyes. "That's because you're stupid. Don't worry; we'll explain it all to you later. In small words."  
  
"And with visuals. I mean PICTURES. Y'know, those things that depict things with the color and." The other boy, who had short brown hair and was wearing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt snickered as the other reached over and smacked him over the head.  
  
"Shut up Jack. I KNOW what they are."  
  
Nicky laughed softly, quickly gaining the attention of every individual in the room. Her three friends all smiled, and the boys sat down on either side of her, with the girl settled down on the carpet, her head resting against the green-haired boy's knee. "Oh, I guess I need to introduce everyone, don't I?" Nicky reprimanded herself, a little smile still gracing her dark lips. Her hand rested on the boy in the tank top's muscled arm, "This is Logan, and this is Jack." She motioned to the other boy, and then her fingers touched the other girl's bright hair. "And this is Hildi. They're my best friends, band mates, and the rest of my family."  
  
"Damned straight." Hildi added with a big grin.  
  
"And this is Adam, Barbara and Juno. They know my Dad."  
  
"This is such crap about your Dad." Logan interjected. "I mean, cripes, where the hell did they come up with the load of bull?"  
  
"They didn't know the whole story, and they just filled up all those huge gaps with what they assumed was right." Nicky's expression grew dark. "You know, I really don't know how I got here exactly. I was a kid, and just woke up one morning in the Netherworld. We could never figure it out, and I told Dad that I didn't want to go back. there. Cripes." She gripped her slender hands together, staring at the floor steadily.  
  
"Nicky?" Jack touched her arm attentively.  
  
"I lived in an abusive home when I was a kid. And one night I just ran out of the house and kept on going until I was too tired to run anymore. I fell asleep in and when I woke up, I was on my Dad's front lawn." She told them everything, moving through the years and all the things she'd shared with her adopted parent. Her face was gentle again as she relayed past experiences, up to the present. Through it all, Jack, Logan and Hildi were quiet but supportive, taking turns to give her hugs and all watching her intently, hanging onto every word. The adults in the room stood the entire time, not saying anything to each other, only watching and listening completely.  
  
Once Nicky had finished, she sank completely into the cushions, eyes half closed in exhaustion. Juno stepped close to her, regarding her with an almost soft but serious expression. "Nicky, I'm going to help you." Nicky sat up a bit, eyes fixed on the old ghost's face. "I promise, I'll do everything I can, and then some."  
  
The young woman's smile was full of gratitude and she cuddled against the couch and Jack's side. "Thank you." With the simple words, her eyes slipped shut and she was out like a light.  
  
"Man, she's asleep." Jack said softly, touching her slack face gently.  
  
"Here, gimme." Logan leaned over, gently slipping his arms under her body and picking her up. He walked off, Jack and Hildi close behind. Again, Adam, Barbara and Juno followed, watching as Hildi pulled down the covers of what must've been Nicky's bed and Logan set her down. The pigtailed ghost carefully untied and slipped Nicky's combat boots off, placing them at the bottom of the bed, and Jack pulled the blankets up to her chin. They quietly filed out of the room, walking out into the living room with the adults.  
  
"Well, I need to get going. I have to go see someone." Juno stated, walking to the front door. "C'mon, I'll get you two a room to stay in." She nodded to Barbara and Adam and then fixed her eyes on Nicky's extended family.  
  
"You're really going to help?" Logan questioned seriously.  
  
"You're someone important, aren't you?" Hildi asked softly, eyes wide.  
  
Juno nodded, "Yes to both. This requires my attention in more than one way, for plenty of reasons, and I'll be doing everything I can to help your friend. And now, we need to go. For now, take good care of her; She's at an especially sensitive stage."  
  
"That explains the mood swings." Jack said with a thoughtful nod. "And don't worry, we were planning on taking care of her anyway."  
  
They all walked out of the house together, Logan last to make sure the door was locked and shut. They went their separate ways, with Juno leading Barbara and Adam back to the city, where she arranged a room for hem. After that, she walked to the city's jail, where there was someone she needed to talk to quite urgently.  
  
*~*~*~*~  
  
"Babbling in a frenzy of vexation". See, that's what you get when you pull our your trusty thesaurus and just go ker-RAZY with it. Or maybe it was just from listening to too much techno. o.O Oh, and thanks bunches of oats for all the reviews! Ah feel da loooooove!!!!! So next chapter, I finally get back to BJ (I know, I know, 'bout time, right? ^^())  
  
Pruning a Monkey,  
  
Kichara 


	7. Meetings

Souls That Need Each Other  
  
By: Kichara  
  
Chapter 7: Meetings  
  
*~*~*~*~*~* Awwww you guyz gave me reviews!! *squishes reviews to her chest* Thankyouthankyouthankyou!!! And see what happens when I get reviews? They get my lazy arse writing! (Actually, it's more my lazy fingers writing, but you get the idea---)  
  
*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Juno stepped past a pair of guards without a word. She hadn't gotten any trouble from any of them so far, although she wasn't sure if it was due to her stature as a caseworker, or just the icy glare she was sending them all. It didn't really matter, as far as she was concerned, as long as she was able to get in to see Beetlejuice without having to deal with some guard hyped up on his own testosterone bothering her. She had enough on her mind.  
  
Her low heels clicked against the concrete softly as she passed through a set of doors and another guard. She'd reached the lower level of the courthouse, where prisoners were held. A clipboard was attached to the wall on the opposite side of the door and she glanced over it, finding that her destination was at the end of the hall. Several hollers and catcalls chased her as she passed the other inmates, but were silenced as she focused her sharp blue-gray eyes on them.  
  
She stepped up to her old partner's cell silently. He was the only one in it, lying on the bunk with his arms pillowing his head, leg crooked at the knee resting on the other one in a thoughtful and relaxed manner. His face was still, eyes fixed on the bottom of the empty bunk over him. Juno stood still, composed with her hands overlapping each other at her front. After a long moment, he tilted his head to the side, soft green eyes meeting hers. The eyes widened in surprise but his body stayed in the same position, seemingly uncaring. It was probably what he wanted her to believe. She mused, watching as his eyes shifted back to the bunk.  
  
"What are you doing here?" He asked bluntly, voice gruffer than usual but even.  
  
"I met Nicky." His fingers twitched slightly and he blinked, but otherwise gave no reaction, and the untrained eye wouldn't have seen the change at all.  
  
"Yeah? So what? Did you come here to give me a lecture about doing the right thing and how I should've told someone about her?" He almost spat with an anger that was probably half stemmed from the frustration over everything that had happened that day, and from the bitterness that the two had separated with last time they'd met.  
  
"I wouldn't exactly say it's a lecture." She replied, voice softening ever so slightly. "Especially since, if you had done that, then Nicky wouldn't have been able to stay with you. And you wouldn't have changed into a better person." 'That got a reaction.' She thought, almost amused, but not really, as she watched him instantly roll over, sitting up and staring at her with wide eyes.  
  
"Juno?" His voice was quiet like she'd never heard it before, and one of her hands reached up to grasp one of the cold metal bars in front of her almost out of desperation and shock.  
  
"I'm going to help you two." She said gently, eyes never leaving his. "We'll pull through this."  
  
"Why?" His lack of words was shocking and her other hand held onto another bar, almost clinging to them. The sight of Beetlejuice acting so--- human was overwhelming and she felt the need for something to support her, even if it was just some iron bars that were separating her from the person that had once been a dear friend.  
  
"Because it's the right thing to do." The ghost's beeper suddenly sounded in her pocket and she backed away from the bars in surprise, hand reaching into the pocket and pulling out the tiny device. "I have to go." She announced, stepping back up. "I'll see you soon, the hearing's supposed to take place tomorrow morning.  
  
"Thanks, babe. I'll see you." He said, flashing her a smile that had the traces of that old grin of his that she'd always loved.  
  
"See you." She turned and walked off, putting her beeper back into her skirt's pocket and pulling out a cell phone out of the other one.  
  
Beetlejuice clasped his hands together, resting his forehead against them and allowed himself the first smile since breakfast with Nicky that morning.  
  
"Yes, what is it?" Juno spoke into her cell as she walked back upstairs.  
  
"There's someone who wants to see you, Miss Juno." Her secretary answered, sounding rather pensive.  
  
"Who is it?" The response was almost snappish, Juno could think of better things to be doing over having to wrestle with one of the paperwork- wielding interns that were always stalking her.  
  
"Um, a new ghost. They asked for you by name, Miss."  
  
"Who the hell would--- Never mind, I'll be there in about 15, Miranda." Juno cut off the connection and pocketed the phone again, pushing open the courthouse doors with her free hand. Didn't she ever get a moment's rest?  
  
*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Nicky woke slowly, exhaustion weighing down on her limbs like iron. She sat up slowly, noticing that she was still in her clothes from last night, her boots neatly placed at the foot of the bed. She picked one of them up, closing her eyes as she breathed in the smell of leather. They'd been taken off her carefully by Hildi, while the boys had tucked her in. Then they'd left, eyes held on her in concern and love.  
  
The ghost smiled softly, setting the boot back down and standing up. She had a rather unusual talent for being able to gather events and emotions from some items and the sixth sense often told her things that could never be told with words. She stepped into the bathroom, slashing a handful of icy water onto her face and rubbing at it vigorously. The door to her Dad's room was open, the unmade bed half in view from where she was standing. She shuffled towards the open door, hand out to push it back so she could walk in.  
  
Nicky sat on the edge of the bed, then lay down, curling up on the crumpled blankets. She closed her eyes, peacefulness settling over her features. 'Juno promised she'd help, I have faith in her. And in me. We'll be able to get everything right again.' Her gentle smile returned to her, and how long she lay there, arms wrapped around her knees in a self-made hug, she had no idea, and would have stayed there for hours if her stomach didn't wake her up from her happy, half-dreamness. It grumbled loudly, protesting against the lack of food that was in it.  
  
She got up, heading for the kitchen with a bit of bounce returning to her step. The young ghost stopped at the entryway to the kitchen however, as she took in the mess of a room before her. It had been the first room she'd got to when she'd come home the day before, and the wreck had startled her even more. Broken plates covered the floor, chairs overturned and the door to the garage had been left ajar. She'd picked up a large shard of glass, closing her eyes and concentrating on it. She'd seen her father, standing at the stove, and then flashes of red, people rushing into the house, the room a mad struggle as yells and the sound of breaking glass filled it, and then they were gone.  
  
"Dad--- Please be alright." Nicky whispered. She went to put her boots back on to protect her feet from the glass, then back to the kitchen to carefully clean it back up.  
  
The young woman kept herself busy for about two hours, and just as she was pushing the chairs back into place, the doorbell rang. "Now who's that?" She wondered aloud, treading over to the door and opening it up. A young woman was standing on the porch. She was elegantly thin, slender hips and shoulders held in the folds of a plain black dress. Long black hair fell down her back and her eyes, a soft chestnut, looked into Nicky's emerald one's with interest.  
  
Nicky didn't say anything, her eyes wide as she stepped out onto the porch. One of her slender, ringed hands lifted, fingertips just touching the pale skin of the other girl's cheek. Her eyes never left her's and an endless minute passed, and then Nicky breathed a name. "Lydia?"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Okay, okay, no hitting! I know this was all short and---stuff. But it was just so fun to end it right there!! ^^ *ducks as large heavy objects are thrown at her by irate readers* *switches to evil mode* MWHAHAHAHAHAAA, SUCH POWER I HAVE TO END IT HERE!!! *returns to normal* Whoops, um, sorry 'bout that.  
  
I'll try to get the newest chapter up ASAP, but it's always sorta hard for me, as I don't really have an operating computer. But tell me whatcha think of what's happened and all that---stuff. O.o  
  
Oh yeah, and much love and ferrets goes out to Spencers13, whose site is going to be hosting my BJ artwork. Unfortunately, I need to get the rest of it scanned (The EVIL of technology haunts me.), but I should have it done soon and sent to that woman we all luv. Thanks again Spencers! *huggles* ^^ 


	8. Explanations and Black Coffee

Souls That Need Each Other  
  
Chapter 8: Explanations and Black Coffee  
  
By: Kichara  
  
I feel all loveded! Especially from Wanda! Thank yoo! See, I've been having issues with my stories, partially because I don't have a computer with the Internet, and partially because the only thing I've been doing besides working is making my cosplay costumes. But fear not, I haven't forgotten about this story, or you guys! Cuz I luv you all like big polka dotted fish that do the can can! Cuz they're cooooool.....  
  
*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Nicky's clear eyes suddenly grew brighter as she took in the young woman standing on her front porch, a jolt passing through her and a memory triggering in her mind at the sight of the other girl.   
  
* * *  
  
"Dad? Who's this?" Nicky held out a photo, held in a very simple frame that she'd found in his sock drawer while putting away the laundry.   
  
Beetlejuice, who'd been sprawled out on the floor of the living room, looking through their movie collection and trying to pick out one for them to watch, sat up and took the picture from her in surprise. It was a simple photo, featuring only a girl about the age of sixteen in it, dressed all in black, with a pair of melancholy chestnut eyes. "This is, uh..." He faltered, obviously trying to sort out his words. Nicky sat down next to him, placing her hands on her knees and watching him patiently. "Well, y'see... remember that whole thing about the Maitland's that I told you about?" She nodded, eyes flashing in recognition. "Well, I kinda didn't mention someone in there. Her name was Lydia, and she was... well, let's just say that I've never met someone, much less a living someone, who was that twisted."   
  
He smiled, a laugh filtering through his words as he continued. "She intrigued me to no end, but I wasn't exactly too..." He trailed off, searching for the right word.   
  
"Civilized?" Nicky put in helpfully, knowing her father and his past and present habits all too well.   
  
He smirked, almost seeming to blush. "Yeah, that sounds about right. So I tried getting hitched with her, so I could get out of the Netherworld, but that kind of back fired." His eyes roamed over the picture, then to the ceiling thoughtfully before he continued. "Y'know, I guess before I knew you, I was a real ass." He admitted.  
  
"Who says you're not one now?" She teased, wrapping her arms around him in a huge hug and then resumed her former position next to him. "So what about her?"  
  
"Well, last I knew, she and her pain-in-the-ass parents and the Maitlands were eventfully sharing their house together. I sort of wish... things could have gone different, you know that? She probably would've been--- I dunno--- a good friend--- or something like that." His eyes drifted down to the picture in his hands and unbidden, an almost tender smile crossed his face. Nicky only watched in wondering silence, her own smile, filled with fondness and love for the person sitting next to her. He was always truthful with her whenever she wanted to know something about himself, even if it took some time for him to figure out how to tell her about it. And he always seemed to learn things about himself at the same time while talking to her.  
  
* * * * *  
  
It was her eyes. Lydia's clear brown eyes pushed Nicky into moving closer, her fingertips lightly resting on the other girl's cheek, and it was almost as if a light electric shock ran through her as sensations and clips of memories began flooding through her, flashes of her father and this woman in front of her at a younger age, the anger and surprisingly, the curiosity that had coursed through her at that time, and now, the unhidden wonder about him that had brought her to that doorstep.   
  
"Lydia?"   
  
Lydia stepped back in response, an inaudible gasp leaving her as she took the step. "How do you know my name?"   
  
Nicky smiled, her eyes flitting as she then noticed for the first time that Juno, Barbara and Adam were walking up the lawn towards them. "I could tell. Your eyes were the first clue." She said simply, passing the young woman a wink, then diverted her attention to the three adults walking up to them.  
  
"Good morning, Nicky. This is..." Juno gestured to Lydia, but Nicky cut her off.   
  
"Lydia." The young ghost filled in matter-of-factly, grinning at their shocked faces.  
  
"How did you know---?" Adam's question trailed off as he tried to figure out how Nicky could possibly know Lydia's name. From the lawn, all he'd seen happen was Nicky stepping forward to touch Lydia's face, and then her face had softened as she spoke a single word.  
  
"I can see things, like emotions or clips of events that had happened in the past through objects, and sometimes even people, if the feelings are strong enough at the moment. Dad says it's a gift." She added with a shrug. At that moment, Hildi, Jack and Logan came tromping into view. They saw Nicky, her face returning to it's usual brightness, and the three grinned almost simultaneously.  
  
"Good morrow!" Logan said almost jokingly, running up with the other two close behind, grabbing up her lithe body in a huge hug.  
  
She laughed, returning the hug whole-heartily. "Good morrow, love. C'mon, come inside. We've gotta get things figured out, right?" He set her back on her boots and she led the small group back inside, Lydia trailing at the back. She paused for a moment before entering the house, looking up at the doorway with a thoughtful frown, then followed after Barbara.   
  
*~*~*~*  
  
Nicky carefully carried the large pot of coffee into the living room, where everyone had managed to sit themselves in, and she set it down on the low coffee table, going back to the kitchen and then returning with an armful of mugs, placing them around the pot. She took a spot on the floor at the table's end and poured herself a cup full, taking a deep gulp from it before saying anything.   
  
"So...I just wanted to know, Miss Lydia... How'd you get here, anyway?" Her eyes fixed on the young woman sitting on the couch between Adam and Barbara.   
  
The intense emerald orbs almost made her jump and Lydia cleared her throat, composing herself. "You know, just Lydia's fine. And I...died. Obviously." She added with a shrug. "And when I got to...that place where you go when you die, I asked the reception to see Juno. Actually, it was more of a threat." She smirked. "So they brought me to her office, and then she got there, and told me a lot more than I was expecting to hear. And..." She trailed off, studying the carpet intently.  
  
"And you were curious about my Dad. Although curious is a rather damp word in comparism to what brought you here. However, it's too early and I'm lacking a good night's sleep, so you'll have to forgive my shortage of a decent adjective." Her eyes almost seemed to glitter with a quiet laughter as they watched Lydia's surprised one's.  
  
"Because you read my mind?" Lydia said after a long moment of thought.  
  
The ghost laughed, waving a hand at the other girl. "Geez, it's not mind-reading! I'm not THAT good! Your emotions were just very strong at the time, that's all." She added in a softer tone, smiling down into her coffee mug. Lydia blinked in surprise again and she found herself studying the carpet with renewed interest as she thought the words over.  
  
Adam leaned forward, taking one of the empty cups off the table and filling it with coffee. He sipped it, grimacing slightly. "Black?" He narrowed an eyebrow at the offending cup.  
  
"Course. That's the only way to drink it!" Nicky answered cheerfully, finishing off her mug and pouring herself another, as Adam set his full cup back down. "Now, Juno, what do you know about what's supposed to happen?" Her tone lowered, becoming serious.  
  
"The hearing's tomorrow morning at eight. I'll be speaking on behalf of your father, naturally, especially since the members of the courthouse were going to more than happy to supply him with one of their lawyers." Her lips set in a grim line. "I can just imagine how one-sided THAT would be. Other than that, I wasn't able to find out much else. I'll see if I can rustle up anything else before tomorrow morning that will help us. Anyone here that wants to act as his defense is more than welcome and I'll make sure to make a note of it."   
  
"Well, obviously I'll be on it." Nicky said matter-of-factly, taking a long drought from her cup.  
  
"And us too!" Logan said, motioning to himself, along with Hildi and Jack, who were all sitting around the coffee table with Nicky.   
  
"Yeah, of course. I feel like we haven't been much of a help, but we wanna support you two as much as possible, even if it's only by us being there." Hildi said sincerely, smiling at her fellow band member.   
  
"Believe me, that's all the help I need." Nicky smiled, reaching over and giving Hildi's hand a gentle squeeze.   
  
"Adam and I are going to be on the defense too, Nicky. I've been so touched by all this, I really have." Barbara said with a gentle smile.   
  
The young woman returned the warm smile, content.  
  
"I want to do it too." Lydia's low voice caught everyone's attention and they turned to her, eyes wide. She looked away, avoiding all eye contact as Barbara opened her mouth to ask her something.   
  
Adam rested his hand on his wife's hand and gently tightened his fingers, a silent gesture that the two often used to simple say, "Don't worry about it.", with no words.   
  
"Well then, that settles that." Nicky's smile became a little warmer. "Anyone want any coffee?" The room simultaneously declined. "Wussies." She muttered, picking up the pot and carrying it back to the kitchen.  
  
"Well, if we're all done, then I need to get going." Juno said, standing up. "I'll need to start contact all my sources to find out what I can about tomorrow that's going to help."  
  
"Aww, you're leaving already?" Nicky said, coming back into the room.   
  
The older ghost nodded. "That's right. I'll talk to you soon."   
  
"Thank you. And Juno---" The ghost stopped, almost to the door. "Don't stay a stranger after this, okay?"  
  
Her lips parted slightly in surprise, and then she nodded, allowing herself a smile. "I'll remember that. Goodbye." She walked out, closing the door behind her.   
  
"Well, I guess that means we should be on our way too." Adam said, getting up.  
  
"Hey, no way! You guys have to stay. After all, it's not like you have any reason to go, and I really wanna get to know you two. And you Lydia." The young ghost added, favoring said person with her warm smile.  
  
"Are you sure? Because I really don't want to intrude..."  
  
"Psh, intruding..." Nicky waved off the idea with one slender hand. "I want to get to know you, like I said. It's nothing more simple than that. Will you guys be hanging around today, too?" She asked of her bandmates.   
  
"Course, nothing like hanging out at the Roadhouse, right?" Logan grinned, using the nickname they'd given the loved domicile.   
  
"We're cleaning." Nicky chirped. Logan winced, but flashed her his grin again.  
  
"Well then, we're gonna have fun cleanin' like no other!" He countered with a faked enthusiasm, which got the others laughing.  
  
"Hey, I can't think of anything else I'd like to be doing." Jack commented, picking up the mugs off the table and heading into the kitchen with them.  
  
"Hey Nicky, whaddaya want me to do?" Hildi asked, getting up.  
  
"Here, help me get out the vacuum, and then I'll figure out what next." Nicky said from a little closet tucked away in a corner of the room. Together, the two girls wrestled out an ancient vacuum cleaner from the tiny closet, setting it down on the floor.  
  
"Have you ever thought about getting a new one?" Hildi asked, narrowing her eyes at the huge piece of machinery, rubbing the numbness away from her arm.  
  
"Why? This one works." The other girl responded.  
  
"Yeah, but the damned thing weighs about 50 pounds." Logan put in.  
  
She smirked at him. "So we need a big strong man to handle it? Why THANK YOU for offering, Logan. Make sure you get under the table." Nicky said with a fierce grin as she marched past him into the kitchen.   
  
"Erg..." The ghost grunted, walking over to the vacuum beast and glaring at it whole heartily.   
  
Nicky was cleaning out the sink when Barbara came into the kitchen, looking around.  
  
"Anything I can do to help?" The older ghost wondered.  
  
"Mmm... you wanna sweep up the floor?" The other responded with a one-armed shrug and a smile. "And of course, you gotta talk to me."  
  
"I think I can manage that." Barbara smiled back.  
  
Outside, Lydia had wandered into the backyard, and was now walking slowly through the mini junkyard, taking it all in. She found a couch and sat down on it, looking up at the orange sky thoughtfully, trying to figure out her jumble of thoughts.  
  
*~*~*~*~  
  
Whew, that was really hard to finish! And I shall spare all of you with my prattle, just tell me what you thought about it, and all that good stuff.   
  
Much love and Squirrels,  
  
Kichara 


End file.
